Harry Potter and The Girl in the Straight Jacket
by Lacci De Vrij
Summary: there might be a Plot now! yay! rated for language (its usually english, and occasionally offensive)
1. The House Cup

There's no real plot to this. I'm just making it up as I go along. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and all those other characters are the genius of Joanne Rowling, not me. Lacci, on the other hand, is AAAALLLL MINE. But I don't object to anyone else using her. sooo... yeah. Onto the story. btw, Lacci is my pen name, but she isn't me. in no way is she me. she's my RPG character.  
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Harry yawned and opened his eyes slowly. He looked up at the blanket covering his eyes. He often slept with his blanket over his head, he didn't know why. It was probably a habit he had gotten to keep dust from his eyes, back when he had been sleeping in a cupboard.   
  
Well, he wasn't sleeping in a cupboard now. Harry fell not-so-gracefully of the bed, in an attempt to get the blanket off his head. There was a loud thud. Dean Thomas looks across the room at him, his bleary eyes hardly open.  
  
"Wassat fo'? 'S 4 a.m. Go' sleep." Dean opened is eyes a bit more and looked down. "Harry. You're onna floor." He yawned with is slight squeak and rolled over, snoring quietly.  
  
5 in the morning? Harry sighed. There was no hope for it now, he was awake. Harry wormed his way up onto the bed again, for the first time realizing what caterpillars had to go through every day.He peeled the blanket off and got dressed.  
  
Ron woke up to the sound of a body moving around. He opened his eyes a crack, and saw Harry pulling his robes on.   
  
"Where ya goin', Harry? 's... 's really early inna mornin', iss'nit it?"  
  
"I cant sleep," Harry whispered, so as not to wake up anyone else, " I'm just going down to the common room."  
  
"Oh," Ron replied, already making a valiant attempt at sitting up.  
  
"You don't have to come, Ron. Go back to sleep." Harry gave him a smile, and helped him up anyway.  
  
"I'll come anyway. I cant sleep anymore anyway, thank you very much," Ron said mockingly, smiling and pulling his robes on, without bothering to take off his maroon pyjamas. He knew that you could never be sure what would happen when Harry Potter couldn't sleep. They both made their way down the stairs to the common room.  
  
They sat next to the fire, talking with the kind of chat you often have at 5 in the morning. Then Harry thought of something.  
  
"Hey Ron? What day is it today?'  
  
"I don't know. Why?"  
  
Harry stood up and walked over to the calendar. "Ron!! Ron!! Today is the last day of the year!!" He said surprised, half full of excitement and half with disappointment. He would be going back to the Dursley's that afternoon. He liked his home at Hogwarts. But he'd be away from Snape and Malfoy and most of his work.  
  
Ron was much happier than Harry. "Wow! Really? This is great!! The whole school year just went WHOOSH, didn't it? And the weird part is, You-Know-Who didn't show up once, and nothing weird happened!! It just seems like a school year cant go by without something amazing and weird happening, doesn't it? Maybe something will happen at the Dursley's house, like Dudley will turn out to be a wizard, or a fish or something."  
  
Harry gave Ron a strange look for a moment. Then they both burst out laughing. Ron's favorite word appeared to be "weird" these days.  
  
"Well," ron continued, going back to the main topic, "I'll ask mum if you can stay with us. I'm sure she'd say yes. You know how much she loves you."  
  
Harry laughed. "Like one of her own children."  
  
"Not that she needs any more," Ron joked.  
  
Harry smiled. "Well, lets go pack our stuff then." Ron nodded in agreement.  
  
As they were heading back up the stone steps, a few other Gryffindors came downstairs, sleepily. People were waking up. Harry and Ron squeezed past them and up to their dorm.  
  
***  
  
Everyone sat at their tables in the Great Hall, waiting to hear the results for the race to win the House Cup. There was the loud sound of hundreds of children whispering to each other. Harry, Ron and Hermione sat next to each other, whispering just like everyone else.  
  
"Who do you think will win this time," Hermione asked.  
  
"Us, of course. We've won every year," Ron said proudly.  
  
"Well, I don't know. Ravenclaw isn't that far behind us, from what I last heard. And we cant win _every_ time, Ron," said Oliver fairly.  
  
"He's right you know.." Hermione began, but then Dumbledore stood up and began speaking. The Hall fell silent.  
  
"It has been a spectacular year. You were all wonderful. The house points in each house are surprisingly high. They go in this order: Ravenclaw in 4th place, with 559 points."  
  
The Ravenclaw table gave a sigh. They never won.   
  
"Gryffindor in 3rd place, with 620 points."  
  
Many of the Gryffindors gasped. They had come in 3rd place? That hadn't happened in a while. Fred leaned over and nudged Harry. "Don't worry," he whispered, "I bet Dumbledore will pull some points out of his hat. Have you defeated any Dark Lords recently?"  
  
"Slytherin in 2nd place, with 681 points."  
  
A few students from other tables clapped, and the Slytherins moaned.  
  
"And Hufflepuff in first place, with 727 points!"  
  
The Hufflepuff table erupted in cheers. They hadn't won the cup in many many years. None of their 7th years even remembered ever winning. Gryffindor and Ravenclaw stood up and began clapping, slowly and reluctantly followed by Slytherin.  
  
"Hufflepuff wins the House Cup!" Dumbledore shouted happily, giving a large friendly grin to the Hufflepuff house. "And it's about time, too!" Hufflepuff banners fell from the ceiling. They were held up, of course. They didn't fall on the students.  
  
***  
  
After everyone had said their goodbyes and Peeves had given a farewell shower of pulpy orange juice, the Hogwarts Express pulled away. The three well-mentioned Gryffindors sat in a booth together, as always.  
  
"Can you believe it? Hufflepuff!! I forgot there were more than two houses!"  
  
"Now Ron, that's not very nice. I think it's about time Hufflepuff won something. There are a lot of hardworking people in Hufflepuff."  
  
Harry stared boredly out the window while Ron and Hermione chatted about the House Cup. He often did this, although there didn't seem to be much reason. He was he kind of person who stared boredly out windows while his friends had a good time talking. This just seemed to be the way.  
  
Right on cue, Ron said something to Harry, as if he didn't notice Harry as drifting into space.  
  
"Harry, what did you think of the House Cup results?"  
  
"Huh?' Harry asked, turning back to the present instead of watching the clouds about 5 miles ahead. "I don't know anyone in Hufflepuff, really. I think it's good they won for once. Even Slytherin clapped, after all."  
  
Ron nodded, glad that Harry was still there. "Yah, that surprised me too. I mean, why would the Slytherins be happy that someone other than them won?"  
  
Hermione looked at Ron, as though trying to decide whether to correct his grammar or not. "Well, maybe they were just glad we didn't win again."  
  
"That's a good point."  
  
The rest of the ride home consisted mainly of talk about quidditch, muggle music, harry's chances of going to the Weasley's house, and Draco Malfoy. The tray lady came by, and they bought some candy. The trip was uneventful, like usual.  
  
The train stopped, and the students unloaded their things. Ron promised to write to Harry, Hermione hugged them both goodbye, some girl with strangely colored hair bumped into them, and they all said goodbye and went opposite ways. Harry found Vernon waiting by the barrier for him.  
  
"There you are," Vernon grumbled, sounded more irritated than usual. Harry didn't say anything. He pushed his stuff into the trunk and climbed into the back seat of the Dursley's new car.   
  
More uneventful things occurred. Harry wondered if he had even had a more boring time. he had gotten so used to mystery and magic that his normal life seemed too mundane to handle. He hadn't even had an interesting time at Hogwarts this year. He smiled to himself as they pulled into number 4 Privet Drive.  
  
As Harry walked up to the door, carrying all his books and supplies on a cart and holding Hedwig's cage in his other hand, he heard a noise inside. Aunt Petunia was screaming angrily at someone. _That's odd,_ thought Harry. _The only other person in the house is Dudley, right? She wouldn't yell at her sweet little Dudley-pooh, would she?_ Harry grinned at the idea of Dudley getting in enough trouble to be yelled at by Petunia. The idea was absolutely tickling. He just hoped she wouldn't start taking it out on him when he got inside.   
  
Harry decided to wait for Uncle Vernon to go in first. Seeing as he couldn't reach the handle with all he was carrying anyways, this seemed like a smart idea.  
  
Vernon trudged up to the door and stopped. Obviously he could hear the screams too. He blast through the door, yelling blasphemies that made Harry turn pink. And, for once, they weren't aimed at him. He slowly followed Mr. Dursley through the door and shut it behind him.  
  
Harry couldn't seen Petunia, but her noise was ringing through the hallway. Despite his curiosity, Harry wisely decided to avoid the living room and headed up the stairs. Vernon stopped and called after him, "Stay up there until I call you down, d'ya hear?" Harry nodded and pushed his things into his room.  
  
Harry was glad to have a room of his own. He had gotten it a few years ago, when the Dursleys found out about his godfather and decided that a cupboard was no place for a growing boy. And a growing boy he was. Although still being fairly short, Harry Potter was now sleek and slightly muscular, attractive 15 year old boy. He admired himself in the mirror.  
  
"Damn I'm sexy," he said to himself, and laughed. He didn't expect _this_ mirror to talk back. Harry began unpacking his things.  
  
Last year, Harry hadn't been allowed to study at home. The Dursleys didn't want any magic practicing going on in their home. With a little careful persuasion, Harry managed to convince them to let him study in his room. After all, he reasoned, if he got kicked out of Hogwarts, the Dursleys would have to deal with him all the time. And it might just make him so mad he'd turn them all into toads.   
  
As Harry hung Hedwig's cage on a hatstand, he noticed a pile of papers from the Ministry of Magic piled by his door. Actually, they had been more or less shoved through the mailslot Mr. Dursley had installed to feed him through a few years ago. Harry wondered why he, of all people, would get mail from the MOM. And why they would send it to Privet Drive instead of Hogwarts, where he would have gotten in sooner.  
  
Hedwig screeched and flapped her wings carefully, so as not to rip her feathers on the fairly small cage. "Don't worry," said Harry distractedly, patting the side of the cage and looking at the mail, "I'll let you out tonight. Just a few hours away." Harry stood up and picked up the letters. There were five.  
  
He opened the first letter.  
  
_Dear Mr. and Mrs. Dursley,   
  
There is a highly dangerous girl released from Azkaban residing in your house. We will inform you how she got there once we have the facts. She seems to be quite fond of Mr. Harry Potter, and refuses to leave your home. Please respond to this letter, and tell us if you will care for her. She is rapidly getting better and will soon be a normal witch, and she believes she needs Mr. Potter's help in doing this. If you do not wish to adopt her, tell us and we will send men to confiscate her. Thank you.  
  
- The Ministry of Magic_  
  
Harry stared blankly at it for a moment. Then he began to get worried. "This doesn't make any sense," he said aloud, clearly fretting. "Why does she want me? A girl released from Azkaban? What can I do? I cant watch someone else! How long has she been here? Why are they leaving her to me? What if she killed Dudley or something? Why do I care about Dudley? Wha.." Harry stopped himself. He was going to hyperventilate. He knew two people who had been to azkaban, his godfather and Hagrid. They both said it was a nasty place to be. The girl could be mentally insane! And they hadn't given him any information on her. How old was she? Why was she in azkaban? What's her name?   
  
Harry sighed. This was too much to think about. One question at a time. "If she was released from Azkaban, obviously she cant be _all_ that dangerous, right?" Harry stood up, grabbed a sheet of paper and a quill, and began writing to the MOM. He didn't bother to read the other letters, he knew they would say the same thing.  
  
As he was writing, the voices from downstairs began to drown out his thinking. After all, the living room was right below Harry's room.   
  
_"Come back here you little wretch!"  
  
"Look what she's done to my carpet! My god!"  
  
"Zap."_  
  
The last voice caught Harry's attention most. That must be her. It was a slightly high, indifferent voice. There was the sound of someone small crawling over furniture, followed by someone large climbing over furniture and falling over.  
  
_"Mummy, make her go back where she came from."  
  
"Zap? Zeeky Boogy Doog."  
  
"Stand still and let me get this on you, or I'll break your little neck!!"  
  
"Yeeeeeek!? Waaaaiii!!"_  
  
There were more thuds and crashes, and Petunia kept screaming. Dudley sounded like he had shit his pants, and Harry couldn't tell if Vernon was more frightened or aggravated. After about 3 minutes, Vernon called upstairs.  
  
"Harry, get down here! Now!"  
  
Harry shut his eyes for a moment, and turned to Hedwig for a moment before heading down the stairs. "So much for our welcome home, eh?"  



	2. Lacci

Harry stared at the small girl before him. She was fuming. He had thought Mr. Dursley was frightening when he was mad, but he was nothing compared to this girl. Mr. Dursley, he noted, was also fuming. But Mr. Dursley wasn't in a straight jacket. Harry didn't stop to wonder if Mr. Dursley could fit into a straight jacket.  
  
The girl was struggling against the white jacket, and her arms were in extra long sleeves that were buckled in the back. Harry didn't want to know where the Dursley's got a straight jacket from. Any bondage fetishes involving the Dursleys weren't going to involve Harry, and hopefully not this girl either.  
  
Her hair was short in the back and longer in the front. Her green hair and red face made her resemble one of Harry's favorite holidays. She had a strained look on her face, yet she looked fairly at home. She seemed to be accustomed to the jacket, something that unnerved Harry. It was like a rabbit who spent it's life in a cage, and then the cage was opened. After running around the block three times, it's owner had caught it and stuck it back in the cage. Harry wondered if they had straight jackets in Azkaban. They shouldn't need them, one would think. The girl wobbled over to the couch and flopped down. She wasn't facing Harry, and to his knowledge she hadn't seen him, but he couldn't help feeling she was staring at him.   
  
Vernon grabbed Harry's arm and dragged him into the kitchen.  
  
"You've been getting letters, boy. And this thing showed up. Is she some experiment of yours gone wrong? Your homework, perhaps? We **aren't going to deal with it Harry.** I want you to clean the house, fix the furniture, and KEEP THAT BLOODY THING AWAY FROM MY FAMILY! It's your responsibility. Keep it in your room. Bring it back to that confounded school of magic of yours, and keep it there. If it does one more thing..."  
  
Vernon had been slowly advancing on Harry. Harry found himself back up against the kitchen wall.  
  
"What do you want me to do, Uncle Vernon? Shove her in my bird cage? Keep her in that straight jacket? I don't know anything about her! She's from Azk.." Harry remembered that he shouldn't ever say anything about magic or his world. "She's from my people's jail. She might kill me!" Harry knew Vernon probably wouldn't care if the girl killed him or not.  
  
"DONT YOU TALK BACK TO ME!" Mr. Dursley roared. "She's one of your ruddy people and your going to take care of her, ya hear? I don't care what you do with her, but KEEP HER AWAY FROM US NORMAL PEOPLE!!"  
  
Harry tried to keep his temper. There was no denying it. The girl would probably be better with Harry than Mr. Dursley. A cheap jar of peanut butter was safer with Harry and Mr. Dursley. He nodded and stepped back out into the wrecked living room.   
  
The girl was sitting there, humming tunelessly to herself and rocking back and forth. Her head was lolling lazily about, and though she was unconscious, but still moving. Her skin color had gone from red to a pale pink. She had bruises all over, and her eyes were red. Apparently she had bonked her eyes on something hard enough to have a layer of blood under the skin of her eyes. It was a creepy sight. Beside that, she was grinning. A wide, maniacal grin. Harry feared it would take the top of her head off if it got any bigger.  
  
Harry cleared his throat, but she didn't look up. She started humming louder. Harry decided it was probably safe enough to get near her. He shuffled cautiously over to the ripped couch and sat down next to her. He looked at her for a moment. She was completely ignoring him. He put his hand on her thin shoulder, and her head shot up to face him. Her Grin got wider.  
  
"Fweeeee!!!! Hayyee Pahher!! Waugh!!" She would have wrapped her arms around him, if they hadn't been wrapped around herself. Instead she fell forward into Harry's lap. Harry patted her in the head awkwardly and pushed her back up by the shoulders.  
  
"Hi. Er. What's your name?" Harry looked at her a little uncertainly, but he was a bit more confident this time. Maybe she was just a female Creevey.   
  
"Lacci," she said, nodding. She bounced a little, and blinked carefully, so as not to hurt her sensitive eyes. "Lacci Lacci Lacci Lacci. Lack-ee. Lacci. Lacci De." She Grinned again.  
  
"Lacci D.? Hi Lacci. What does D. stand for?"  
  
"Not D. De. Lacci De. Laaaaccii Deeee Vrijj. Vreeg. (a/n: soft g.) Hee," Lacci said this rocking viciously back and forth, singing it out. "Laaaccci wants to knoooow about Haaayyyee Paaaaahheerrr... Lacci waaaannts to kn.." Harry put his fingers to her mouth to shush her, and she bit playfully at them. He quickly withdrew them. "That's not nice!" He said. It seemed the only way to react was to talk to her like you would a dog.   
  
"You want to know about me?" Harry asked. "What do you want to know?"   
  
She smiled and fell forward into his lap again, in a sexually obscene position. Harry lifted her thin body. She flopped forwardly, unconscious.   
  
"Oh bugger," Harry exclaimed, And lifted her up over his shoulder. She was smaller than he was, and much much lighter. She weighed about as much as all his books and supplies and things together in their trolley. As he dragged her up the stairs, he could see Dudley peeking at him through the kitchen door. He was smiling, and stuck his tongue out. Harry ignored him.  



	3. Letter From Ron

Lacci opened her eyes and looked around her new surroundings.  
  
_Window. Dark out. Open cage. Mine? No. Boy. Harry Potter. Savior. Bed. Floor? Floor. Lacci. Lacci on floor. Bed? Boy on Bed. Harry Potter Savior on Bed. Sleeping. Lacci Sleeping? Harry Potter Savior Sleeping. Good. Move Arms. No. Jacket. Strangle Jacket. Bad Strangle Jacket. Gooonneee..._  
  
Lacci moved her shoulder a bit, and moved her chest forward. After a few seconds of straining the material of the arms, there was a snap, and the buckle broke in half. Lacci pulled her arms free, and removed the jacket. She was wearing nothing underneath, but that didn't bother her.   
  
"Fweee.." She said quietly. She looked at the clock, which said '2:34 am'. _Wrong,_ she thought. _14:43,_ she told herself in her head, mentally correcting the clock. She didn't seem to notice that the clock hadn't actually changed.   
  
Lacci looked around. It was hard to see, because of the blood in her eyes. "Infra-red!" She squealed happily. "Beep beep beeeeee beep beep," she said, making noises and pretending she was wearing night goggles. "Ni' giggles," she said, Grinning. She tried to pronounce the things in the room.  
  
"Tay-bull. Foow. Selfh. Boook. Hindoo. W...W... wok. Ook. Ool. Ool." The last word gave Lacci some trouble. She hadn't seen one of those in a long time. Hedwig gave her a funny look, as she flew through the window. That is, Hedwig flew through the window, not Lacci. "Ool!" Lacci said happily, running over and hugging Hedwig. The owl squawked and woke Harry up.  
  
"What is it Hedwig?" Harry asked irritably. He looked up and saw Lacci. "Let go of my owl, Lacci. That's right, set it down. That's good. The owl can hurt you if you are mean to it."   
  
Lacci gave the owl a surprised look. "Hoot?" She asked.   
  
"And I don't think she can understand you."  
  
"Hoot me?" Lacci asked again. "Hoot Lacci? Ool dun hoot."  
  
Harry was about to comment on that, when he understood what she was saying. "Owl doesn't hurt? Not if you are nice. Watch." Harry stood up and walked up to Hedwig. "I'm sorry Hedwig, she doesn't understand that well. Are you back from your night fly?" Harry reached out to stroke her neck, but she snapped irritably at him.  
  
Lacci giggled. "Hee. Durgrumpled ool. Hayyee hoot?"  
  
Harry gave her a pained look, but didn't comment. He wasn't positive if she was just out of practice in talking like a human, or if she had some sort of speech impediment, or if she was just pretending or what. It probably wasn't best to ask. "I'm fine," he replied.  
  
Hedwig lifted her leg annoyedly. There was a letter attached to it. _Doesn't anyone ever pay attention? Why does he think I'm back so early, to be cooed by an obnoxious little human girl?_ She wondered.  
  
Lacci shook her head. "Noo. I is think that's not reason."   
  
"What?" Harry asked. He hadn't remembered saying something. "Look, Hedwig brought me something.  
  
"Thas what I did," said Lacci triumphantly. Harry ignored her, and took the letter from Hedwig's leg. He hadn't remembered sending any letters, and if he had received any, surely they would have been sent by someone else's owl. He opened it.  
  
The letter was from Ron. It said:  
  
_"Dear Harry,  
  
Hedwig just happened to be flying past my house, and I thought 'Hey, I'll write to Harry.' So here I am, writing to Harry. You know how hard it is to get a decent owl for mail over here. Percy wont let me touch his owl, Errol has to stay in his cage for a week, and Pig probably cant carry a piece of bubble gum. Hope you don't mind. Whats up? Anything interesting happen? Did any evil criminal show up at your door and try to kill the Dursleys? If they did, did you let them? Write me back, I gotta go. It's my turn to do the bloody laundry.God I hate the laundry. I tried to tell mom I did it last time, but Ginny says she did, and mom believed her. She always takes Ginny's side, cuz she's a girl.  
  
- Ron_  
  
"Wassit want?" Lacci asked, snatching it from Harry's hands. She tried to read it out loud.  
  
"Flumpum Trumpnut.  
  
Fweetily notkoo an' furshoo 'bee are ler bitty widdle git Trumpnut'. Sou wai on' foot-canoo, widdley git Trumpnut. Yoo wat go.." Harry took it back.   
  
"Thanks. I can read it myself, in my own language. You're very helpful." He tried to sound thankful without sounding too skeptical. She didn't seem to notice. Harry set it down on his table, and patted Hedwig on the head. "Thank you, Hedwig. I'll reply tomorrow. Go wherever you want for tonight."  
  
Hedwig flew greatfully out the window, and Lacci tried to follow suit. Harry grabbed her and pulled her back in. "You cant fly Lacci! Get back here. You'll wake up the Dursleys."  
  
"Bi bi ool... out de hindoo. Ool out de hindoo. De hiiinndooo..." Lacci stared dreamingly at the sky from her safe spot inside the house. "Neet."  
  
"Yes," Harry said, trying to be stern. She _was_ rather cute. In the same way a baby was cute. He tried to be firm. "Come on now Lacci, you have to go to sleep. Big day tomorrow. Sleep." Lacci reluctantly pulled herself from the window sill, and curled up on the floor. Harry wanted to tell her she could sleep in the bed with him, but didn't want her getting ideas and certainly didn't want any of the Dursleys to see him in the same bed with her. He got into his bed and drifted back off to sleep.  



	4. The Park

Harry woke up. This was normally the first thing he did in the morning. Petunia was yelling up the stairs, and Lacci was banging on the door and shouting nonsense at her. Sensing an immediate problem, Harry sprang out of bed and nearly tackled Lacci. She seemed to take it as a compliment.   
  
"Pish, Hayyee Pahher," she said brightly. Petunia stopped yelling.  
  
"Look, you cant go around yelling at my relatives, ok? They're muggles. Do you know what muggles are?"  
  
"Buggles?"  
  
"No, that's a band. A muggle is someone who cant do magic. They don't like you and me, ok? And these ones are big and mean, so you have to be nice to them." Harry knew this wasn't the nicest way to make her understand, but it was honest and straightforward. Petunia started yelling again. "I have to go downstairs and do important things now, Lacci. I'll get you some food. Please, please please please stay up here."  
  
Lacci gave him a pouty look. "Wan' footshtopsh." She bit her swollen lip.  
  
"You can go down there later, when they all leave," Harry suggested, taking a stab at what she meant. "I'll be back." Harry opened the door and slid through, making sure to lock it behind him. The Dursleys had been sure to put plenty of locks on it, earlier. They hadn't bothered taking them off. Harry was thankful for that now.   
  
***  
  
"Harry," said Mr. Dursley in a smug voice, as Harry entered the kitchen, "How is that maniac of yours treating you? I expect you're getting along just fine."  
  
Harry nodded his head submissively. He wasn't going to start a fight today. "Yes Uncle Vernon. We are getting along fine." He began pouring the family their orange juice. He slipped some pancakes into his pocket for Lacci while Vernon and Petunia weren't looking. But he had forgotten about Dudley.  
  
"Muuumm, Harry's sneaking food! He shouldn't get extra food!!" Dudley reached into Harry's pocket and grabbed the pancakes, which started to break into pieces in Harry's pocket.  
  
"Harry, you go throw that away. A boy like you shouldn't need extra feeding." Aunt Petunia pointed to the crumbs on the floor. Dudley was eating the pancakes he had managed to save from Harry's pocket.  
  
"It's not for me! It's for Lacci. She needs food too. You saw her, she's nothing but skin and bones!" _And besides,_ he said in his head, Dudley is the one who doesn't need more feeding.  
  
"See, he's already given it a name. Why cant I have a cool pet like that too, dad?" Dudley shot Harry a jealous glance and poured himself some more syrup.  
  
"I don't care if she's skin and bones. That little rat deserves it. Go back to your room, Harry. Now." Mr Dursley pushed Harry out of the kitchen and turned back to Dudley. "He's not taking care of it as a pet, he's taking care of it as a punishment. Don't worry, I'll go get you a big ferocious animal that's twice as scary as her."  
  
Dudley gave a yelp of happiness.  
  
"When you're older," Mr. Dursley continued.  
  
"Awww.." complained Dudley, but didn't push it.   
  
***  
  
Harry trudged up to his room, trying to see if he had any food left for Lacci. There was a _bit_ of pancake...  
  
Harry opened the door to his room only to find that Lacci wasn't in there. Where could she have gone? He heard voices and then the door downstairs opened and slammed shut. The Dursleys had left. That was good. At least Lacci wouldn't do anything to them today. Harry sat down at his desk and wondered where to start on his letter to Ron.  
  
_Dear Ron,  
  
Actually, something amazing did happen when I got home. There's a girl here. She calls herself Lacci De. She keeps speaking nonsense, but I pretty much understand her. The Dursleys somehow got her into a straight jacket, don't ask me where they got it. She's the scariest thing I've ever see.._  
  
Harry jumped, and his quill slid across the paper. Lacci was standing directly behind him, playing one of Dudley's broken French Horns, very badly. She started skipping around.  
  
"LACCI!! LACCI!!" Harry tried to yell over the noise. _"LACCI!!!"_ Lacci stopped, and turned around. She looked at him innocently. "Yesh?"  
  
"Lacci, you cant go around making noise like that. You nearly scared me to death. Why don't you.." Harry stopped. Would it be a good idea to let her sit around downstairs? "Here, how about this. If you are quiet for another 10 minutes, we can go outside for a walk. Doesn't that sound like fun?" Harry smiled encouragingly. It was like talking to a little child. She looked about 9 years old.   
  
Lacci pondered this. It appeared to take a lot of effort. Finally she came to a conclusion. "Sit," she said, and sat. On a small plastic cactus, with a broken pot. She didn't seem to mind, so harry left it alone.  
  
_..n. She was just released from Azkaban, apparently. I don't know why she was there, though. I don't know if I want to. She's kind of cute, when she isn't awake or moving or making noise. I don't know what to do with her. She seems to be obsessed with me. Write back, and HURRY.   
  
- Harry  
  
ps: You might not want me coming over this summer. Lacci has to come too._  
  
Harry folded the paper and attached it to Hedwig, who had returned that morning,'s leg. "Sorry about all this, Hedwig. Ill see you get plenty of resting time later. Thanks." He patted her on the head and sent her off. Lacci watched her go out the window.  
  
"Bi bi ool..."  
  
Harry smiled, and helped Lacci to her feet. He pulled some plastic cactus quills from her bottom, and she giggled happily. "Well," Harry said, opening the door, "I promised you we could go outside. Let's go to the park." Lacci smiled and zoomed out the door, bouncing down the stairs and landing on her bum. Harry couldn't help but chuckle a little. _I hope she likes parks.._ he thought, as he led her out the door.   
  
***  
  
At the park, Lacci played on every piece of equipment there was, twice. She appeared about to burst from excitement. That made sense, of course. She had been in Azkaban, who wouldn't find everything so wonderful after that? harry decided he might as well have some fun as well. It wasn't broomsticks, but a jungle gym could be just as fun.  
  
Lacci Grinned and slowly approached Harry from behind. He was standing right next to the slide, and she was under the boards, right behind him. She reached up and poked his posterior.  
  
"ARGH!" Harry jumped, and turned around. "Lacci!" He tried to scold her, but he was laughing. Lacci giggled "Hayyee it." Then she got up and ran off. Harry chased her.  
  
After about two hours, Harry went and sat down for a rest. Lacci had gotten him to play almost every single game she knew. Tag, Spoons (not the normal spoons, this involved throwing them at the fence), Crosses (explained later), Don't Wake the Dragon, Snappy Slytherin, and Steal the Potion. Lacci had never actually played Snappy Slytherin, at least not by that name. She called it "Throw Mr. Ferret," which Harry found amusing. He had a mental image of a ferret bouncing up and down...  
  
"Lacci, we should go home now. The Dursleys will be home soon, and we aren't allowed to be out." But Lacci wasn't listening. She was lying in the grass, next to three muggle children. They all appeared to be about 6 or 7. Lacci was pointing at the sky and talking to them.  
  
"Bunni," she said.  
  
"No. It looks like a pillow," said a little blonde girl.  
  
"Bunni!" Lacci insisted. She held the girl's head and tilted it a little. "Noi remd poik nurr fok bee." The little girl nodded. "Oooh! I see it!!"  
  
A boy looked up at the. "Well, look at that one. It looks like a man in a hood."  
  
Lacci looked up at the cloud the boy was pointing to. She jumped, and screamed. "Dementor!" She cried. The two girls hugged her, in that cute way that little kids do. They seemed to be calming her down.  
  
Harry took this moment to interrupt. "Ehem," he coughed. 4 heads look up at him from the grass. "Sorry, but Lacci has to go home now," he said softly, pointing to Lacci. Lacci stood up. "Guten tag," she said, waving to the kids. "Bye, Miss Vrij!" the chorused, and ran off to their respective families. Lacci pointed at another cloud, and tilted Harry's head upwards.  
  
"Litnig blot," Lacci said plaintively. Harry nodded. "Yes. Just like my scar. Lets go." They walked, or rather, Harry walked and Lacci skipped, back home.  



	5. Packing For The Burrow

When they got back inside Harry's home, he remembered the pancake. "Oh, I'm sorry, Lacci! I forgot to get you breakfast!"  
  
Lacci shook her head. "Buggles gimme fud." She gave him a toothy smile. There were bits of leaves stuck between her not-so-clean teeth. Harry already had a mental picture forming. The muggle kids she had been playing with had probably been feeding her leaves off the bushes by the park. Harry hoped they weren't poisonous. Lacci seemed fine.  
  
"All right. Tell me if you need food though, don't go... eat someone or something." Lacci laughed at this, but in the way someone would laugh if you said, "Don't go eating food or anything." She ran back up the stairs, thudding all the way. Harry walked up after her. He had hoped the park would get rid of some of her energy. But it seemed she had endless amounts of it, whether she had food or not.  
  
Harry was relieved to have a letter back from Ron already. Harry set Hedwig in her cage, where she fell asleep. Harry opened the note, while Lacci tried to eat her straight jacket.  
  
_Dear Harry,  
  
Released from Azkaban? Does she turn into a dog or a gerbil or anything like that? Sorry, that was a dumb joke. Maybe she's related to Creevey. I already asked mum about you coming to spend the summer with us, and she agreed. But she isn't sure about Lacci. Does Lacci break things a lot? If she does, she'll get along well with Fred and George. They've got a new project going. I don't even want to know what they're up to this time. But anyway, ask the Dursleys if you can spend the summer with us. If they say yes, we'll be over to pick you up tomorrow. If they say no, we'll be over to pick you up tomorrow.   
  
- Ron_  
  
There was a crash behind Harry, and he didn't pay attention to it this time. He knew who it would be. He decided to send the letter later, when Hedwig was up for it. After all, he had promised her some rest. Harry sighed and hid the note where Lacci couldn't eat it. She popped up behind him and put her hands on his shoulders.   
  
"Hiya Hayyee, Towee Heebum?"  
  
"Nothing that concerns you," Harry said, pulling her hands off his shoulders. He turned his head a bit so he could see her. "How old are you, anyway?'  
  
Lacci smiled and gave him a peck on the cheek. "footen," she replied.  
  
Harry's eyes widened. "Fourteen? I thought you were nine! I'm fifteen. Azkaban must have stunted your growth." The moment it came out of his mouth he knew he had said the wrong thing. Lacci slapped him. Hard. She looked excruciatingly evil with the blood in her eyes and the bruises under them. She bit her lip and turned away.  
  
"Sohhee," she said quietly. Harry was her idol. That would be like the author of this fanfic slapping Alan Rickman. It just isn't right. Of course, if Alan _asked_ to be slapped, perhaps not on the face... anyway, back to the fic.  
  
Harry thought of patting her comfortingly on the shoulder, but it really stung. Instead he said, "That's ok. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have mentioned it." Lacci turned around and flashed a bright smile. It seemed all was forgiven then. She hugged him and bounced out of the room and down the stairs. Harry pulled out a sheet and quickly wrote, "memo to self - don't mention azkaban or dementors or AYTHING to Lacci."  
  
As he finished his memo, a door slammed downstairs, and the sound of three people entering the house could be heard. Then there was a frightened squeal and a bunch of thudding. Lacci burst into the room and hid in the closet. Harry stepped out of his room and walked down the steps cautiously.   
  
"Good to see she know where not to be," said Vernon approvingly. Harry decided to try approaching him. Mr. Dursley appeared to be in a good mood.  
  
"Speaking of," Harry said hopefully, "I was wondering if I could bring Lacci to a friend's house. Where there are other people of our kind. We'll stay there for the rest of the summer, and you wont have to see us for another year." Harry bit the inside of his lip, hoping Vernon wouldn't ask who's house it was he wanted to go to.  
  
Vernon considered Harry's suggestion. "Who on earth would want to have that thing in their house? I'm not giving you a ride across the country, you hear? Where is it you want to go?"  
  
Harry took a breath. "Ron Weasley." Before Vernon could object, Harry quickly continued, "But there wont be as much trouble this time, I promise. You can drive me out to King Cross, and they'll pick me up from there. No floo powder, no trick candy, nothing like that, I _swear_." Harry stopped and waited for Dursley's answer.  
  
Vernon was going to object and send Harry back to his room, but this did seem like a good alternative to having Harry and Lacci in his house for the rest of the summer. "Oh, all right. I'll drive you out there tomorrow. I hope your little friend doesn't get freak out by car rides. I want her in that jacket on the way there, you understand? And you get her into it."  
  
Harry wanted to object. The straight jacket was a cruel way to confine someone. But he'd have to do as Vernon said, if he wanted to get out of this house. "Yes, Uncle Vernon." Harry turned and began walking upstairs to pack his things. "And don't forget, you're making dinner tonight!" Vernon called up after him. "Yes Uncle Vernon," replied Harry, not listening anymore.   
  
It was getting dark out, and Lacci was sitting on Harry's bed, holding a safety pin. She was scratching the top of the cushion open.   
  
"Oh stop that," said Harry, taking the pin from her. She gave him an offended look and stuck her tongue out at him. She rolled off the bed and onto the floor. "Gone?" she asked. "Tomorrow," Harry answered, and started writing back to Ron.  
  
***  
  
Lacci sat in her respective pile of cloth on the floor, watching Harry. He appeared to be writing back to that letter that flew in the window with the owl. Lacci wondered where the letters were coming from. All of this was so new to her. She couldn't remember the last time she had been so free to do things. And she got to do them with Harry Potter, the boy who single-foreheadedly defeat the dark lard! 3 times! Lacci had viewed Harry as a deity higher above her in every way imaginable. He was noble and strong, the perfect figure of a man. Her ideal. It took a lot of willpower not to bow every time he looked at her. And her treated Lacci like an equal, like someone just as good as himself.  
  
Lacci had always had a speech problem. When she was 4, she made up her own language. She forgot how to talk in English, and all other intelligible languages. But she knew how to talk her own. She had been dubbed insane by many, and had been sent to azkaban at age 6 after a traumatizing incident with a sharpened spoon and her father.   
  
Now she met the famous Harry Potter at last, and he could understand her gibberish! He truly was far more advanced than she had imagined him to be.  
  
Lacci had tried very very hard to learn to speak the english tongue again, because she wanted him to understand her. She wanted people to think she was normal. It seemed she didn't need to learn it as quickly, because Harry could understand what Lacci said anyway! She sighed and snuggled back into the cloth. She felt like she was in paradise. There couldn't possibly be a safer place for her to be, in her opinion. Lacci drifted into a quiet sleep, dreaming about Harry Potter in a superhero costume, fighting off dark lords with ease and carrying Lacci off to a beautiful haven with trees and singing birds and waterfalls, and other children like her.  
  
  
***  
  
Harry finished his letter and walked over to Hedwig's cage. "Psst, Hedwig!" He whispered, trying not to wake the small filthy girl in the pile of clothes on the floor.   
  
Hedwig lifted her head and looked Harry in the eye.   
  
"Hedwig, are you up for another trip? Can you bring this to Ron, pleeeaase?" Harry gave her a sad puppy face, and made pouty noises.  
  
After a few moments, Hedwig gave in. Harry smiled and tied the note around Hedwig's leg. "Thanks Hedwig. Dont bother coming back here, we're going over there. Stay at Ron's house, rest up a bit." Hedwig would have given Harry a sarcastic smirk, if her face was able to form itself that way. Instead she just gave a squawk and flew out the window, which Harry had been thoughtful enough to open.  
  
Harry watched Hedwig leave, and then sat down on his bed. Ron was right, weird things were happening. But nothing he couldn't handle this time. It was a little girl who wanted to be cared for, not an evil man who looks like a snake who wants nothing more than to kill Harry and take over the world. With that comforting thought, Harry lay down for a dream filled sleep.  



	6. Harry's Dream

"Harry?" Lacci asked, reaching over and poking him in the shoulder. "Harry, are you alive?"  
  
Harry opened his eyes and looked up at Lacci. She no longer had the bruises and the blood. Her face was full and happy and alive, without a scar nor scratch upon it. Her hair was still green, although now Harry could see that it wasn't dark slimy green. It was a happy lime green color, and the back was brown fuzz, about an inch and a half long. If her head was turned the right way, she'd resemble a shrubbery. Her skin was now slightly tanned instead of pale while, and she wasn't as thin as a twig. She was actually fairly attractive.  
  
"Mrrrrrr?" Harry asked, finding that he couldn't get up. "Wha deedo?"  
  
Harry surprised himself. He was speaking in a different language! He was speaking in Lacci's language. And he understood it. Lacci gave him a strange look.  
  
"Well, at least you're all right. Here, let me help you up. That was quite a nasty fall. I told you not to go running around like that, it's dangerous." Lacci's voice was lower than her normal happy squeek, and it was flooded with concern and worry.   
  
Harry tried to stand up, with her pulling on his shoulders. He tried to say 'no, I'm fine,' but it came out, "Na, eer tin!" He felt fine and healthy. But he felt as heavy as a giant iron bar. He found that he couldn't stand up. Lacci pulled him up and flung him over her shoulder.  
  
"Now look, you are not fine. Your legs are probably broken in at least five places and your head is bleeding. Now stop thrashing about, I'm going to get you some help!" Lacci sounded patient but annyed. In fact, she was acting a lot like Harry did towards her.  
  
Harry wanted to object, but he felt as though Lacci knew what she was doing. Surely she was more experienced in this, she could make it all better. But harry wanted to dance, he wanted to run around and play, he wanted to be free while he had the chance...  
  
"Spurgen spong-flop."  
  
Lacci adjusted her shoulder a bit. "Is that better?" she asked. Harry nodded, and fell asleep.  
  
He woke up again in a white room. there were white sheet and white everything else. In the middle of it all was a girl in black robes. She had a scar on her forehead, much like Harry's. Actually, it was exactly like Harry's. She walked up to Harry and kissed his forehead. He opened his eyes to get a better view of this girl. He woke up.  
  
Harry found himself staring at the ceiling of his room in the Dursley's home, number 4 Privet Drive. He didn't move, he just sat and stared. _That was certainly a strange dream,_ he thought to himself. It wasn't as bad as dreams he had had before. But it was strange. It looked like he and Lacci had switched places. He kept remembering the feeling of admiration and dependance towards Lacci, that pure confidence that she would know what to do and everything would be allright around her. Did Lacci really think that way towards Harry?  
  
Moonlight poured in through Harry's window, hitting a small figure on the floor, curled up in a bunch of clothes, wrapped in a dirtied straight jacket. The blue light cast strange shadows behind her, ones that didn't quite seem to fit the object the were cast off of. Harry stood up and walked over to the window, blocking the light. It was a full moon. He turned his head to look at Lacci, and smiled to himself. _Well,_ he thought, _at least I know she isn't a werewolf._  
  
Harry opened the window, and pulled a chair up to it. He sat at his window, staring out at the brilliantly lit night sky, the perfectly built houses all along the calm little street, the trees scattered along the edges of the road, growing like nobody's business. The blue moonlight was interrupted by the orange of the street lamps below. Harry looked up at the black and purple of the sky and began looking for constellations.  
  
After about a half an hour of sitting at his window, Harry began to wonder. Then he said aloud, quietly and to himself, "Why and I waiting for Hedwig to return? I told her not to. I guess I just miss contact with normal people." Harry shut the window and went back to his bed. He looked at his clock. 3:46 AM. He moaned and rolled over, not bothering to take off his glasses as he went to sleep.   
  
A hurt whimper came from the pile of clothing in the corner, and Lacci shut her eyes. _Normal people._  



	7. Threatening Dudley

(a/n: I like to get a bit of perpective from everyone.) Dudley woke up, feeling sick to his stomach. And there is plenty of stomach to be sick with, too. He moaned and rolled over, pulling his blanket, sheet and comforter over his shoulder. But it was too hot. He kicked off his covers.   
  
"Muuummm.." He whined loudly. No one answered. "Muuuuuumm.." he said a little more persistantly. No answer. "MUUUUUUUUUUMM!!!" He wailed loudly, kicking his feet. A door opened, and Mrs. Dursley hurried into the room. She took one look at Dudley's red face and rushed to hsi side.   
  
"Duddy-baby, are you alright? Oh! You're burnign up!! Here, lie back down, and I'll get you an cold pack and some ice cream." The worried woman ran out of the room, carefully shutting the door behind her. Dudley gave a smug look and rested back into his 4 down pillows.  
  
Awakened by the noise, Lacci crept into Dudley's room. He was just lying there, arms folded over his chest (a very difficult endeavor for him). Lacci prowled across the floor and hid under the foot of his bed. She wrapped her bare arms around her bare legs. She hadn't bothered to get clothing on, she never really needed it anyway.Petunia came back.  
  
"Mum, I think I heard something crawling around on my floor," Dudley said worriedly. Petunia smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Dont worry dear, it's probably just your imagination. Eat yur ice cream." Mrs. Dursley move the pillows and propped Dudley up against them so he could sit. He began to eat his ice cream.  
  
"Here baby, here's your cold pack. Put this on your head if it hurts. And call me if you need anything. Anything at all, allright angel-cakes?"  
  
Dudley nodded, his mouth full of food. Petunia continued. "Good. Today is a saturday, so you can get up any time you like. It's only 8 am right now. Get some sleep. Night Night, honey." She kissed him on the forehead and left the room.  
  
***  
  
Lacci smiled to herself, and climbed up the end of the bed. She Grinned maniacally in Dudley's face. He screamed, and tried to back up to the end of the bed. Here was this evil, magical, naked girl on the edge of his bed giving him a look that could kill.   
  
Petunia came rushing in, followed this time by Mr. Dursley. Their eyes widened at the site, and Vernon was hesitant to attack Lacci this time. Not only was she naked, but last time she had nearly ripped his throat out with her teeth. "My baby!!" Petunia cried helplessly.  
  
***  
  
Harry woke up to the sound of Dudley screaming. He thought for a moment maybe Dudley had had a nightmare, but when Harry noticed Lacci was gone he knew what had happened. He jumped out of bed and scittered across the hall barefoot and in his jammies. He flung open the door, and saw the girl naked on the bed and the large boy curled up on the edge of his bed, with ice cream spilled all down his nightshirt.   
  
Petunia grabbed Harry by the shoulders and shoved him at Lacci. "You take care of that.. monster!! Oh my poor little Dudley.."  
  
Harry stumbled forward and fell into Lacci. Her automatic response was to twirl around and attack whatever it was that had just fallen on her. She rolled over on harry and raised her hand to strike. Harry tried to protect his face with his arms.   
  
"WAI!!" Lacci cried, crawling off of Harry quickly and curling into a ball. She put her hands over her head and started talking such fast and fluent gibberish that I couldn't possibly write it all down.   
  
Harry stared. Dudley cried. Petunia rushed to her son and hugged him. Lacci continued speaking utter nonsense. Vernon stomped up to Harry, every step vibrating on the floor boards Harry sat on. He just glared down at Harry, too mad to say anything. He grabbed Harry by the arm and dragged him to his feet. "Boy," was all he could manage to get through his clenched teeth. He pulled Harry out of the room quickly. Lacci got up and followed, slowly.  
  
"Look," said Mr. Dursley, so mad his face had gone purple, "You know what I told you about that girl."  
  
Harry nodded slowly. "But it wasn't my fault, I didnt know she went in there!"  
  
"Have you got any idea what she could have done to Dudley?!" Vernon screamed, slapping Harry's cheek. Harry flinched and grasped the side of his face. It stung like hell. He hadn't been hit by Vernon since he was in his 3rd year. "Its not my bleeding fault!!" Harry yelled back. He took a step backwards and stumbled into Lacci.  
  
Lacci looked shameful and scared. She cringed and quickly moved out of Harry's way. "My fault!!" she yelled at Vernon, in perfect english. She copied Harry's words. "My fault!! I went in there!! My bleeding fault!! Hayyee gute." Vernon stared blinking at Lacci. He didn't have anything to say to her. He didn't want to interact with her. It was much easier to yell at Harry. He pushed her out of the way and bore down on Harry again.   
  
But now Harry had come up with a defense. "Just get us out of here, Uncle Vernon! Send us away! Give us bus money, I dont care, let us away from this house!!"  
  
Vernon didn't object. He threw two pounds at Harry and stared him in the eye. "Go. Go away. Now. I never wanted your kind in my house, and god damnit, I never am." With that, he turned on his heel and stormed back into Dudley's room. Harry turned back to Lacci. He gave her a look that clearly said, 'Why did you have to go and do that? why?'  
  
A tear formed in Lacci's eyes, and dripped down over her face. It was red. She bit her lip again, and then turned her head away from Harry. Without a word, she walked quietly back into Harry's room and went about fixing the buckle on the straight jacket.  
  
Harry came in a few moments later and picked up the jacked. Lacci gave a glimmer of hope. _Is he going to say I dont need it?_ she wondered.  
  
Harry pulled out his wand and murmered a spell under his breath. The buckle was fixed. He pulled Lacci up by her shouders and fitted her into it. After he had finished dressing her in the straigh jacket and some white jeans, he put a sweat shirt over the jacket and walked her out the door, staring feircely ahead and not saying anything. Softly, Lacci started to cry again.  



	8. On The Bus

It was 9:20 am, and the bus wouldn't be coming until 10. Lacci sat herself on a bench. She knew why Harry put the sweatshirt on her. It would look very strange to see Harry on the bus with a girl in a straight jacket. Lacci wished she could wipe away the bloodied tears that were drying on her face. She wanted to hide her face, but she couldn't easily bend in the jacket. She knew Harry had put it on her for her own good, but she couldn't stand having him mad at her. She wished she knew why he was mad. He said himself that he didn't like the Dursleys. She wanted to talk, but knew better of it. Harry would need to cool off before he'd let her talk to him.   
  
Lacci looked over at Harry, whjo was avoiding looking at her. She could see the mark on Harry's face. She wanted to make it better. She wanted to make him happy, and she couldn't. Lacci felt another tear roll down her cheek.  
  


*******

  
  
Harry stared blankly at the sidewalk. A cool breeze swept past, having awesome healing powers on Harry's cheek, which was red and sore. Harry avoided Lacci's gaze. He knew he shouldn't be so mad at the girl. She wasn't really the living hell he made her out to be. And he knew he was being cruel to her. She couldn't do any more harm now. Not when they were away from the Dursleys. And he knew Lacci wouldn't talk unless he spoke first. She was waiting for him to forgive her.   
  
Harry opened his mouth to say something, and closed it again.  
  
"You know, it isn't easy," he began, and stopped.  
  
"I'm sorry that I.." he said again, and stopped.  
  
"Look, you know you.." Again he stoped. He turned to face Lacci. She sat there, watching him hopefully, sitting up straight wearing Harry's large blue sweatshirt and his white jeans that he had gotten from Dudley when he was 7. The way the blood stained tears etched across her pathetic and hopeful face was almost poetic. He sighed and pulled out a handkerchief, which he wet and began rubbing the blood off her face. Carefully, so as not to upset her bruises. She closed her eyes and breathed with relief.  
  
"Effigrof?" she asked.  
  
Harry nodded. "Effigrof." He smiled at her. She smiled back.  
  
At 10 am the bus arrived, and Harry told Lacci, "Now, please, dont say anything while we're on the bus. Let me handle the fares." She nodded, and Harry helped her up. She wlked with ease in the straight jacket, aperently very used to it. He gave her a push up the steps as they climbed into the bus, and gave the ttwo pounds to the driver.  
  
There's no point in describing what the driver looked like, because he's not a very important character in this fanfic anyway. But he did speak up.  
  
"Excuse me, but whats wrong with you, young lady? Did you get beaten up?"  
  
Before Lacci could respond, Harry intervened. "She doesn't like to talk about it. She cant, really. She only speaks Greek."  
  
The driver turned his slow gaze on Harry. "Why's she got her arms in her sweatshirt?" He asked testily.  
  
"It's a cold day out," Harry responded immediately. The driver looked at his thermomator, which stated to anyone who cared that it was 78 degrees out. The driver looked back at Harry.  
  
"It's cold out for her. She's from Greece, it's much hotter there."  
  
The driver looked again at Lacci amazingly pale skin, but didn't comment. "Ok, come on, get in." He ushed them inside the bus, and Harry grabbed Lacci's sleeve and brought her to two empty seats in the back. They sat down.  
  


*******

  
  
Lacci looked at the little girl next to her, and smiled. The little girl smiled back. Within a few moments, they were deep in conversation, and occasionally a shreik of laughter would come out of one of them. The girl's mother turned and looked down at Lacci. Lacci looked up at her. "hiyo," she said cheerfully. The mother just stared at her. Lacci looked like the devil in disguise. She put her arm around her child and said, "Shelly, why dont you sit on the other side of me, please."  
  
"But mum, I dont want to. I want to play with Miss Vrij," Shelly complained. Her mother didn't seem very fazed.  
  
"That's.. not the kind of person I want you around," her mother said firmly. "Now please, come sit over here."   
  
Reluctantly, the girl got up and sat on the oppisite side of her mother. Lacci leaned over and stuck her tongue out and Shelly. Shelly stuck her tongue out back. They both smiled. Shelly's mother gave Lacci a stern look, and Lacci hurriedly turned to face Harry. Shelly giggled, and Lacci giggled in return, still facing away.   
  


*******

  
  
Harry, on the other hand, wasn't having as much luck with his neighbor. He sat next to a tall muscular boy with long purple hair that was in two short black spikes in the front. He looked about 19 or 20 years old. He was wearing a black fishnet shirt under a sleeveless black shirt that said "Asshole" on it, in red writing. His pants were black vinyl. He was wearing heavy black eyeliner and dark blue lipstick. Harry tried hard not to stare. He hoped the boy wouldn't notice him, because he also head head phones on that were blasting some sort of awful screeching screaming music.   
  
Unfortunately, the boy did notice him. He gave Harry a strange look and raised one eyebrow.  
  
"Can I... help you?" He asked, in a thick german accent.   
  
"Er, no, that's alright," said Harry, averting his gaze. He turned and watched Lacci, who was talking to some little girl. Her mother appeared to really disapprove of Lacci. Harry wanted to do something, but wasn't really sure what. Luckily, the mother intervened.   
  
Harry found himself staring face to face with Lacci, who was giggling. She looked up at the boy with the headphones, who had turned off his music and taken off the headgear. He appeared to be taking an interest in her.  
  
Lacci was the first to speak up. "Haio, Fishbuns."  
  
The boy looked amused. "And hallo to you too. Awesome contacts." Harry didn't understand what the boy had said, but assumed he was referring to Lacci's eyes, which still had blood in them.  
  
"Danke," Lacci said, Grinning. When she only spoke one or two words, she sounded almost sane.  
  
"Bitte," the boy replied, taking note of the Grin like some sort of signal between 'goth/punk' people. Then he turned his attention briefly towards Harry. "Cute girlfriend," he said, winking. Harry looked shocked.  
  
"She isn't my girlfriend!" He protested. The boy smiled. "Sure." He reached out to shake Lacci's hand. "My name is Gian, what's yours?"  
  
Lacci just smiled. Harry said, "She doesn't like taking her arms out of her sweatshirt."  
  
Gian gave him a strange look. "What? Is she an amputee or something? Have you got any scars on your wrists you're afraid to show, girl?"  
  
Lacci shook her head. "Nah. Straight jacket," she explained carefully.  
  
The boy laughed out loud. "Bondage!" He cried, and was shushed feircely by serveral people in front of him. He quieted down a little. "How much are you getting paid to do this?" He asked them both.  
  
Lacci smiled and opened her mouth to say something, but Harry drowned out her words with his. "That isn't really any of your business, is it?"  
  
Gian gave him a look of mock offense. "Dont be so nasty, kid. What's your name, by the way?"  
  
Harry gave him a sour look. "Potter. Harry Potter. I'm not being _nasty,_ I just dont think it's really anything that concerns you."  
  
The boy raised his eyesbrows. "Harry Potter? The Harry Potter? Mr. I-Can-Defeat-You-Know-Who-All-By-Meself?"  
  
Harry looked surprised. Lacci tried to look surprised, but instead broke into a wide Grin. "You're a wizard?" He asked. He found it hard to believe that this person could be a wizard.   
  
"Nah, you've got it wrong. My sister, she's a wizard. Born into a muggle family. I read her books though. Read about you. Dint think I'd be meeting you though. Imagine what she'd say, if I told her I met Harry Potter on the bus, with his bondage girlfriend! She wants to marry you, ya know." A wide smiled spread over Gian's face, and he laughed a little. "So tell me about You-Know-Who. What's his real name?"  
  
Harry took a moment to let this sink in. Lacci didn't. "I dunno," she said. "Vurrdemold, like that."  
  
Gian laughed. "Well, that's a bloody stupid name for a Dark Lord, isn't it?"  
  
Harry got his wits about him and said, "No, his name is Voldemort. And Lacci is not my bondage girlfriend, thank you very much."  
  
"Voldemort? Just as bad, in my opinion. Your name is Lacci? That's cute," he said, turning to Lacci. Harry sighed and gave up. "Look, why dont you move over here, and I'll sit nexxt to the window?"  
  
Harry stood up, and Gian scooted over into his seat. Harry sat down next to the window.   
  
"Lacci. Mmhhmm. Lacci De Vrij." She nodded.  
  
"Ah, I've heard of you too. Pleased to finally meet you, Miss Vrij."  
  


*******

  
  
As Lacci and Gian got further into their conversation, Harry zoned out and started looking boredly at the clouds again. He began to wonder what Gian meant by, "I've heard of you too." Perhaps she had been in the Daily Prophet, and Gian had read it over his sister's shoulder or stolen it when she wasn't looking. It confused why everyone called Lacci 'Miss Vrij.' Even little children.   
  
Gian turned and poked Harry in the shoulder. "Hey! Could you be my translator? I cant understand a word she says." Lacci nodded behind him, and made bunny ears behind Gian's head. Harry smiled. "Well, why cant you? Cant you understand her, like everyone else she talks to?"  
  
"Look, I just told you I cant understand a fookin' thing she says. She speaks gibberish. I guess that comes from being in Azkaban. She's gone mad."  
  
Harry looked over Gian's shoulder to see if she had heard him. Luckily, she was too wrapped up in making faces at Shelly to notice. "No, I dont think I want to be involved in whatever it is you're talking about."  
  
Gian sighed. You are a tough one, Potter. Alright. If you see my sister in that school of yours, give her my regards. She goes by the name of Ling."  
  
Harry nodded. "I'll do that."  
  
Finally, there was silence in the back seat. Gian put his head phones back on, and started blasting that strange music again. After some poking, Gian took off the headphones, turned the music down a bit, and put them on Lacci head. She smiled and leaned against Gian, falling asleep. Harry didn't know why, but he felt somehow jealous. If he hadn't traded seats with Gian, Lacci would be leaning against _him_. But then, why did he really care? Harry turned back to the window and gazed out at the clouds. One shaped like a lightning bolt went by. The one right next to it looked like a pillow, or possibly a rabbit.   
  


*******

  
  
Soon the bus ride came to an end, and Harry and Lacci stood up. Gian removed his head phones from Lacci and stood up as well. Harry hoped it was only so he could stretch.   
  
Gian grinned at them. "It was nice meeting you, Miss Vrij, and you too, Potter." Lacci bounced and Grinned. "Meet-fig you too, fishbuns!" Gian laughed and gave Lacci a big hug, picking her up as much as the bus ceiling would allow him. He set her back down and they left. Harry waved to Gian, and he waved back. Lacci waved her head from side to side, and then was pulled off the bus by Harry. She watched it roll away. Then she turned around to look at King's Cross.  
  
"Erg tinglek nit Fishbuns," Lacci said longfully. Harry squeezed her shoulder. "I'm sure he misses you too." Then he spotted something red. And another something red. They were heads. After a bit of fishing the crowds, he spied 5 more heads, bobbing around. Harry grabbed Lacci sleeve and pointed with his other hand. "There they are. See them? The Weasleys. That's our new home for the rest of the summer."  
  
Lacci followed his finger, and spied the red things. It didn't look like much of a home to her, but oh well. Whatever Harry said must be right. Harry began running towards them, and Lacci followed because he was holding her sleeve.   
  
"Ron!" Harry called. One of the redheads turned. "Hey there, Harry!"  
  
Within moments Harry, Lacci and all the Weaselys were within the same 10 square feet of space. That was actually a fairly amazing feat. Molly gave Harry a hug. "Hello Harry, it's good to see you again."  
  
After veryone had finished hugging Harry, Fred and George had finished hugging each other and random muggles and Percy had finished not hugging anyone but getting squeezed by both the twins on opposite sides, Lacci walked up. "Hallo," she said quietly.  
  
Arthur looked over at Lacci. "Oh, and this must be.. Lacci, yes? Hello Lacci. I'm Arthur, this is Molly, these are Fred and George, oh, no, sorry, _Fred_ and _George_, this is Ginny, Percy, and Ron."  
  
Lacci nodded to all of them. "Hi hi hi hi hi hi hi," She said, smiling at all of them. They just stood for a moment in uncomfortable silence. Then Ginny walked up to Lacci and gave her a big hug. "It's wonderful to meet you, Lacci," she said.   
  
With the ice broken, the rest of the Weasleys gave Lacci a welcoming hug. Fred and George got back in line and hugged her several times. When all that was over, it left Lacci smiling like a maniac. "I'd hug beck, but straight jacket," she said, trying to sound as normal as possible.   
  
"Straight jacket?" Molly asked, turning towards Harry. Harry turned pink.  
  
"She came with it!" He said. "She had to wear it on the way here for safety reasons."  
  
Fred laughed. "Sure Harry. You kinky boy." George laughed. Molly glared at them. "Now, that isn't nice at all." She gave Harry in indescribable look, and said to Lacci, "Come on, lets all squeeze into our car, and we'll go back to the Burrow. Then you can get out of that awful thing. Lacci nodded thankfully, and they all piled into the Weasley's car. They drove home. On the ground. The normal way. 


	9. The Untitled

When they reached the Burrow, Arthur climbed out of the car. Automatically, all the children began climbing over each other. "Stop!" Called Arthur. They all froze. "Everyone back in their seats. I'll call you out one at a time, single file line please." He smiled, and opened the door. "Percy, you first." Being the closest to the door, Percy stepped out and went in the house. Ron complained from the very center of the back seat. "How come he always goes first?" Ginny laughed.   
  
"Ginny, you next." Ginny got out and went in. So on and so forth, until everyone was out of the car.   
  
Molly sat Lacci down on the couch in the living room. She turned to Ginny. "Ginny dear, see if you can find sone of your smaller clothes for Lacci, will you? Thank you." Ginny ran up the stairs to her room. Molly took Harry's sweatshirt off Lacci and looked at the jacket. "My this is complicated. Arthur, can you help me with this?"  
  
Harry volunteered. "Actually, I think I can get it. I'v worked this horrible thing before." Molly smiled. "Thank you, Harry dear. Never mind Arthur!" She called to Mr. Weasley.   
  
Harry undid the two buckles, then the snaps, and then the 3 zippers. Finally he undid the button on the wrists and the collar. He pulled the complicated piece of clothing off Lacci, and immediately averted his eyes. George didn't, though.   
  
"Oh dont worry Harry, you're not missing much." He laughed and disappeared and Molly turned to scold at him.  
  
Soon Lacci was wearing a tight white shirt with grey 3/4 sleeves and a body to it that went done below her butt. She was wearing a pair of black jeans. She turrn around for Harry to see.  
  
"What can I say?" He said. "You look cute." Lacci blushed a little. Harry gave her an appraising smile. Behind him, Ron said, "Aren't they so cute together."   
  
Harry laughed. "Not as cute as you and Hermione."  
  
"Dangerous territory, Harry. Daaangerous territory." Harry just laughed again, and Ron lauhed with him. "Lacci, would you mind if I went off and spent some time with Ron?"  
  
Lacci nodded but waved them away. She bounced away into the dining room. Harry turned back to Ron. "Lets go to your room."  
  


*******

  
  
"Please Lacci, sit still. Trust me, you'll look much nicer after this is finished."  
  
Lacci sat in the Weasley bath tub, with Molly above her trying to rinse the soap out of Lacci's hair. She had already picked up several of Fred and George's fake wands, and had finally given up and done it with her bare hands. Lacci definately needed a bath, no doubt about it.   
  
Molly had thought the green in Lacci's hair was just some sort of disgusting thing she had growing there. "Lacci, is this your real hair color?" Lacci nodded, getting soap in her eyes. She screamed, and started thrashing around. It took Molly several minutes to calm her down and get it out of her eyes. _That really is awful,_ she thought to herself. She hoped it wasn't infected yet.  
  
After a bit more scrubbing, screaming and soaking, Lacci stood up and stepped out of the tub. Mrs. Weasley wrapped a large pink towel around Lacci, and she looked at herself in the mirror as Molly dried her hair. It was fluffed out and lime green. The light brown in the back was sticking straight out. Her hair was about an inch and a half long in the back, with green bangs that went down to her eyebrows and longer hair from her forehead to her ears which went down to the bottom of her ears. Except for the bruises and the blood in her eyes, Lacci looked absolutely glompable.   
  
"Oh, you're absolutely adorable!" Molly cooed, smiling down at Lacci. Lacci was about 5 feet tall, which was fairly short for a 14 year old. Molly could see she was very undernourished. She couldn't help but pity the child. None of her children had ever gone hungry, depsite their low income and large family.   
  
"Danke, herr sheedoo!" Lacci said, blushing a bit. Molly leaned down, and looked at Lacci's small round face. "Here, let me put some anti-boitic ointment on those, and they'll be gone by morning." Lacci sat patiently while Molly bustled about the cupboards and pulled a small yellow and white tube out. She flinched when Molly opened it.  
  
"Now, this'll sting for a bit, but it really is for the best. Trust me." And Lacci trusted her. And she was right. It did sting. Lacci wanted to scream again, but was afraid Molly's hand would slip and she's get punched in the eye. After all the ointment needed was applied, Lacci stretched her face by making funny "O" faces. Molly laughed and said, "Ok. I'm done here. Go have fun, and dont let Fred and George pick on you." Lacci nodded and bounced out of the room, the towel swooshing about like a fluffy pink cape.  
  


*******

  
  
Ron and Harry's sat down on Ron's bed. Harry sighed. "What do you think of her?"  
  
"I think she's cute, not as frightening as the picture of her. She looks kind of sad and pathetic, actually."  
  
"Well, she is sad and pathetic, at times. But otherwise she's as bouncy as a child with a bag of Fizzing Whizzgiggs. Let me see the picture."  
  
Ron fished about his messy floor and picket up an issue of the Daily Prophet. He pointed to the second page, which talked about how Lacci had been released from Azkaban, how she had immediately run off to the Dursley's house, how the MOM was worried about the muggles in the area, like the dursleys for example, but at the top was an extremely frightening picture. It was Lacci's face, up close, Grinning. It looked like if you stared deep enough into her eyes you could see thought of people creeping around and stabbing other people, people eating human flesh, humans nailed to walls, people being drowned under bridges, people with their skin slipping off of their bodies like mud, and a dire need to quench a thirst for blood. Her toothy Grin showed off all of her wonderfully unbrushed teeth, some of them stained a nasty reddish color. Then she turned and creeped off into the shadows of a dark alley Harry reconized as Kockturn Alley. Harry dropped the picture.  
  
"That _is_ frightening. That cant be her now, can it? I mean, it looks like her now, but they wouldn't have released her if she hadn't changed, right? She so nice, really." Harry tried to picture Lacci doing any of those terrifying things. He could picture it easily, so he stopped trying.  
  
Ron nodded. "I suppose you're right, but it really does LOOK like her now, doesn't it? Hey... Harry?"  
  
Harry looked up. "Yes, Ron?"  
  
"Harry, where's your school things?"  
  


*******

  
  
Lacci walked into Ginny's bedroom, which was directly between fred and george's bedroom and percy's bedroom. Lacci sat down next to one of the walls and began drilling a hole in it.  
  
After a short while she had managed a small peep hole, about two inches in diameter. Lacci stood up and looked through it with one light green eye. After a moment, two other eyes looked back. One was a left eye and one was a right eye, but they didn't belong to the same person. The left person elbowed the right person, and the right person fell over sideways. A voice said, "Hallo Lacci, lovely weather we're havin', isn't it?"  
  
Lacci nodded in agreement, as the right person stood up and shoved the left one out of the way. This one stuck his fingers through, still watching Lacci. "Is it nice over there? I mean, its not raining, is it?"  
  
"No," Lacci said, looking around and turning back to the hole. "It should be?"  
  
The left person pried the right person's fingers out of the hole and stuck his nose in. "I dunno. Would you like it to be, then?"  
  
"Nah, no." Lacci said, pinching the boy's nose. She stood up and walked over to the other side of the room, where she started drilling a hole over there.   
  
Fred turned to George. "psycho-maniac or not, I like this girl!" They both returned to the hole, pulling bits of grit out from the wall, as they watched Lacci drill into Percy's private space.  
  


*******

  
  
Percy was lying comfortably on his bed, reading a book. The tempture of the room must have been boiling hot, or else the stuffyness was just too much to take. Percy stood up and removed his sweater, followed by his shirt. His slipped off his shoes and folded everything neatly (well, not the shoes) and the foot of his bed. Then he opened the window just a crack, and sat back down on his bed.  
  
Percy liked his small closed room. It was comforting. What little space he didn't have to walk in to get to his bed and dresser, Percy had file cabinets and a desk. And bookshelves. Ooooh the booksheves. Percy loved to read and work. It was his life.  
  
He became aware of a soft scritching noise in his wall. That couldnt be mice, could it? It was summer! Percy slowly approached the wall. (a/n: NOT Percy slowly unbuttoned the ping pong ball. nothing obscene here, people...) The sharp end of a drill appeared in the wall, slowly getting larger. Eventually it pulled away, and an eye looked up at Percy.  
  
"Ginny, what do you think you're doing?" Percy asked patiently.  
  
"Lacci," said Lacci simply, knowing that would explain it all.  
  
"Ah, Lacci. Lacci, did you know drilling holes in the walls is a bad thing?"  
  
"Nah," she said, widening the hole a little. She found it slightly annoying that she had to strain her eyes upward even to be able to see his chest. If she wanted to be comfortable, she'd have to settle for staring at his crotch. Oh well, she had no problem with that.  
  
"Well, Percy said, bending down so as to be face to face with her, "It is a bad thing. And you shouldn't do it. You should also get out of Ginny's room. You're sleeping with Ron and Harry."  
  
Lacci shook her head indignantly. "Am not! I's a vergun."  
  
Percy gave Lacci a sour look, and Fred and George started giggling and laughing from behind their little drill hole. "Wait to go Lacci!" called George.   
  
Percy sighed and put a book over the hole. He walked back over to his bed and sat down, He had lost his page.  
  
There was a thump, and the book in front of the hole fell down. "Go away Lacci," Percy said irritably. Lacci swung in, attached to the door handle. "Nah," she said happily. Lacci jumped off the door and shut it in Fred an George's faces, who were taking the opprotunity to go peek in Percy's room.  
  
"What do you want, Lacci?"  
  
"I woot tin shpeee fingtrip."  
  
"You what?"  
  
"I-woot-tin-shpeee-fingtrip." Lacci said slowly, hoping it would be clearer this time. It wasn't.   
  
"I dont understand. Speak english."  
  
"IIII." Lacci said, pointing to herself. "woooot." she said, grabbing something and holding it to her chest. "tin shpeeeeee." she said, making little talking motions with her hands. "ffiiinnggtrriipp." and she pointed to percy.  
  
"You want to talk to me?" asked percy, feverently trying to understand.  
  
Lacci shook her head and rolled her arms, asking him to continue guessing.  
  
"You want to talk about me? You want to talk like me? Oh, is that it? You want to talk like me?" Lacci nodded, and sighed with relief. It was so much harder to communicate with Percy than Harry. Lacci had heard that Percy was very smart, so he would be able to teach her to speak english. But he didn't seem to be able to speak her language.   
  
"You want to talk like me. You want me to teach you to talk like me?" Lacci nodded again. "Yesh." Percy set down his book again, this time remembering to bookmark the page. The only problem was that that wasn't his page.   
  
"Ummmm, ok. I'll try. What's this?" Percy asked, holding up a book. Lacci smiled. "Burd."  
  
"No Lacci, it's abook. Say that. Boook."  
  
"Burk. Buk. Bukk. Bookrah. Booook." Percy gave Lacci a friendly smile. "That's right. Good. Book."  
  
"Book," Lacci repeated, nodding.  
  
Percy pointed to the door. "Do you know what's behind that?"  
  
"Furr and Rodge," Lacci said after a moment. Furr and Rodge giggled and tapped on the door. "Nuh-uh," they said.   
  
"Try Fred and George," Percy said.  
  
"Furrd. Rorge. Furrrrrd. Rodged. Reodge. Geeroog. Ferood. Free-ed. Geroge. George. George. Freed. Fred. Fred an' George." Lacci beamed happily as she finally pronouced the twins' names right.  
  
"Hey listen, she can pronounce our names now!!"  
  
"I feel so loved!"  
  
Percy ignored his brothers. "That's great, Lacci! Now tell me, what kind of people are they?"  
  
"Neet," said Lacci simply. "Fun." More laughing came from behind the door. "That's us!! Neet and fun!"  
  
Even Percy had to smile in amusement at that. "I meant what kind of brothers are they."  
  
"Oh," Lacci said, not very disappointed her answer was wrong. After all, it had made Percy smile. Lacci liked to see Percy smile. "Ernogging."  
  
Percy chuckled. Fred and George cried, "We thought you loved us! sniff, you're just like alllll the others." They pretended to feel bad and started blowing their noses in each other's shirts.  
  
"I meant that they're twins. But they are annoying. Try saying those."  
  
Lacci smiled. "Tverns. Tweens. Tweens? Twins. Twins. Ernayying. Yarning. Annerying. Annoyering. Annoying. Annoying twins." And so it went for the next few hours, as Percy taught Lacci how to pronounce any number of words. Fred and George lost interest after a while and went downstairs to plot things never before plotted.  
  


*******

  
  
Harry looked around, and down at himself. "Oh my god. I forgot to get my luggage!! It's all back at the Dursley's house. We were in such a hurry to leave, that I didn't have time to take it."  
  
Ron looked slightly worried. They couldn't just drive back to the Dursley's house and say, 'hey mr. and mrs. muggle, dont mind us, we're only back here to take all of harry's magical supplies.' Ron started shaking his hands and trying to say something comforting.   
  
"Um.. ummmm.. don't worry. Maybe dad or someone can accio it over here. It's not a problem. We'll get it before school starts, at least. I'm sure of it."   
  
Harry sighed, and put his forehead in his hands. "Can anything else happen to me? I've left my luggage behind, I've got a little maniac girl who's obsessed with me, the dursleys are all mad at me, lacci's making freinds with strange people left and right, and my foot aches."  
  
Mrs. Weasley called up the stairs. "Lunch is ready!!!" SDome doors opened and two pairs of feet thundered downstairs. Percy shouted, "One momenT mother!!"  
  
Ron smiled. "Well, at least both feet dont ache. What's wrong with Lacci making friends?" Harry told ron about the kids in the park, the girl on the bus and Gian. Ron nodded. "Well Harry, it sounds to me like you're jealous."  
  
Harry's jaw almost dropped. "Jealous? Why would I be jealous? I dont care if Lacci has friends, I'm just worried about her."  
  
"No, I dont mean you're jealous that everyone likes Lacci. I think you're jealous that Lacci likes everyone. Because you want her to only like you." Ron wanted to give himself an award for his insight. Harry didn't seem to think the same way.  
  
"I bloody well am not. I have enough people who like me, I dont need some maniacal little girl who could probably decapitate me if she decided she didn't like me anymore." Harry tried to sound convincing. It apparently worked, because Ron dropped it. "Well," Ron said, "I'll bring it up to dad at supper. He'll sort things out."  
  
"Thanks Ron," Harry said, relieved. He had a mental image of Snape smiling wickedly and giving him an F on his potions homework, for not having his supplies. Harry shook his head and the image went away.  
  
Ron stood up, and reached out his arm to help Harry up. "Well, lets go get lunch. I'm starving. Havent had a thing to eat since breakfast."  
  
_------QUICK INTERJECTION, NOTHING TO DO WITH THE STORY, REALLY------  
Rowbee says:  
you will be up and bouncing for days then  
Rowbee says:  
true.. and by typing to me, you are taking away typing time from the fic  
Togepi Swallowed A Telephone says:  
but I'm still used to getting all this sleep, thanks to you *poke*  
Rowbee says:  
unless this is the fic *dun dun dunnnn*  
hehe  
Togepi Swallowed A Telephone says:  
but I want to talk to you too  
Rowbee says:  
I know, I'm a bad influence  
Togepi Swallowed A Telephone says:  
lol  
Togepi Swallowed A Telephone says:  
I shall add this to the fic then  
Togepi Swallowed A Telephone says:  
somehow  
------DANKE, BACK TO THE FIC------_  
  
Harry smiled and took Ron's hand, who pulled him to his feet. They ran down the narrow stairscase. 


	10. Fic: Interrupted

Lacci looked up at Emmu. "Hey!" she called. "What's going on? What was that about?"   
  
Emmu looked back down at Lacci. "Sorry, it didn't interfere with the story, did it? It was just a joke. And it wasn't even during one of your scenes."   
  
Lacci shook her head. "but it interrupted the basic rhythym of the story!!"   
  
Emmu laughed. "RHYTHM?? Hah! There's no rhythm to this story. And besides, you're interrupting the story even more by talking to me. I'm the author, I have special priveledges. Now go back there and do... charactery stuff. You shouldn't even be able to speak english yet."   
  
"Charactery stuff? Ok. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIII!!!!" Lacci screamed a deafeningly loud scream and attacked her creator with the force of a large plaid boulder made of concrete soaked in pickle juice and dropped off a 2 foot cliff. Emmu disappeared and appeared again 10 feet behind Lacci.   
  
"Neet description," Lacci commented, standing up. "You know, this would be so much cooler if you weren't writing every word I say."   
  
"I know," Emmu said, smiling. "But you know, if you wrote the fanfic, we'd all be in serious trouble. First off, you cant write."   
  
"That's true."   
  
"Yeah, so, sorry everyone who had to read this completely un-fic-related chapter, we'll get back to the story now."   
  
Harry walked in, looking indignant. Wait, I want to say something!"   
  
"No," Emmu said, and the fic continued. 


	11. The Chapter In Which Things Happen

Everyone finally sat down at the table in the Weasley's dining room, and dug in. It was a make-your-own-salad lunch, which meant Molly was too tired to make a real lunch. No one objected. Lacci showed everyone the new words she had learned, Ron spoke to his father about Harry's school things, and Fred and George told everyone about their excursions in the back yard.   
  
"What nomes?" Lacci asked George. "Gnomes," George said. "They're little buggers who eat mum's plants."   
  
Lacci didn't seem to understand. "Buggers?" she asked.   
  
Fred nodded. "Little guys who run around in the garden. Would you like to see them?" Noticing his mother's glance, he added, "If mom says ok."   
  
Lacci's face abruptly became a beacon of adorable innocence. She turned it towards Molly. "Can I goooo?" she pleaded. Mrs. Weasley was of course very used to this approach, but the bruises and her thinness made Lacci twice as pathetic.   
  
"Oh all right. After you finish your lunch. And rinse and stack your dishes. And Fred and George," she said, turning to the twins, "And _do_ be careful boys, she's never seen a gnome before and I dont want her to get hurt." They nodded and hastily finished their salads, which contained of mostly pickles and croutons. Then they stood up and each grabbed one of Lacci's arms, because she had already finished her 3rd bowl of salad and didn't want another.   
  
Molly called after them in the voice all mothers use to remind kids about their work, "Dishes..." Fred hurried back into the dining room, grabbed all three bowls, splashed some water on them in the sink, set them on the counter, and they hurried off outside.   
  
Ron watched them until the door slammed. He turned back to his father. "Dad? Harry left his stuff at the Dursley's, on account of being kicked out.."   
  
"..And we were wondering if you could help me go and get it," Harry continued. Ron nodded.   
  
"We-ell.."   
  
"He does need his school things," said Molly.   
  
"Sure." Mr. Weasley smiled. "Just as long as we dont climb through your window or anything."   
  
Mrs. Weasley gave an approving nod as she stood up to rinse and stack her dishes. "Then you will drive safely, Arthur? On the _ground_?"   
  
Arthur fidgetted a little under her gaze. "Why.. of course." Gaining a bit more confidence he said, "Yes, of course. On the ground."   
  
Harry and Ron looked at each other, smiling. "Hey... let's go find Lacci, see how she's doing with Fred and George. You know, make sure they aren't being _too_ friendly with her," Ron suggested. Harry stifled a laugh and they got up, carrying their dishes.   
  
***   
  
The back door to the Weasley's humble abode burst open, revealing two identical Weasleys and a small girl identical only to herself, if even. The girl was bouncing, and the twins never looked more eager to do lawn work. The one to her left crouched into the grass, and then snatched a small grubby humanoid, a few inches tall and wearing ragged cloth for clothing.   
  
"This," Fred said proudly, "Is a garden gnome."   
  
"Nice catch," George said, inspecting it. He grabbed a slightly larger one that had surfaced to see where the first one went. "Gotcha!" George exclaimed. Fred was already spinning his around, putting the muscles of several years being a beater for the Gryffindor quidditch team to use. Fred began to spin his, and released it.   
  
"That one went a good 40 feet, I'd say," he said proudly as the gnome flew into the air and over a fence.   
  
Lacci stared in awe. "Teeny!" She cried in a small squeaky voice, picking one up herself and following suit. The gnome was screaming and flailing it's arms about.   
  
After nearly all the gnomes had been thrown out of the yard, Lacci picked a smaller one up and looked at it closely. Sensing no hostility, the small female gnome waved. Lacci waved back with her other hand, nearly knocking the thing off.   
  
"'M Lacci," Lacci said cheerfully. The twins continued catching and throwing, not noticing Lacci's hesitation.   
  
"Grubble," The little girl replied. She was wearing a soiled dress-like thing and carrying what looked like a teddy-worm. "Ink to hwat spinky fink?" The gnome asked, looking carefully over the edge of Lacci's hand.   
  
"Chin chalk fooby moomoo," Lacci replied, shaking her head. "Furr mop... waggle couch oot poop-nee?"   
  
Grubble considered this, and then gave up trying. She nodded, and Lacci placed her carefully on her shoulder, where she could hide in Lacci's fluffy green hair. Lacci bounded up to Fred, nearly knocking Grubble off.   
  
"Fred?" Lacci asked, as George threw the last one. There was something she wanted to know before they re-joined the family. Fred turned.   
  
"Yes?" He asked, panting from all the work. The was a faint squeek as the gnome George threw hit the wooden fence and bounced off. He ran after it.   
  
"Why are there two of you?" Lacci asked, wording it carefully so that he would understand her.   
  
Fred laughed. "Because two of me is more fun than one. Let's go back in." He smiled warmly towards her, and George caught up with them, finished with the last gnome. As they were on their way back inside, Fred and George boasting about how many gnomes they caught, Harry and Ron came out the back door and nearly collided with them. In fact, they _did_ collide with them.   
  
"What the..?"   
  
"Who's foot is this?"   
  
"Ow! Get off!"   
  
"Where am I?"   
  
"Let go, Fred!"   
  
"I'm not touching anything!"   
  
"This isn't my foot?"   
  
"EEP!"   
  
Lacci crawled out from the tabgle of people, and felt up by her ear. A small voice said. "Icky notta woooo pang! Hubba flubba moosdug." Lacci almost nodded, but caught herself. She turned back to the group of people, who seemed to have sorted themselves out. There was a general acknowledgement of exisitance.   
  
"Hello,"   
  
"Hi,"   
  
"Someone stepped on my shin,"   
  
"Fred!"   
  
"George!"   
  
"Group hug!"   
  
Fred and George hugged everyone several times and then Harry spoke up. "You guys are finished already? We were just coming out to help you."   
  
George shurgged. "Too bad you missed on all the fun... my arm aches. Let's go back in." The sun was already setting, and the sky was reddish purple. There was a murmur of agreement, and the group marched back inside, the force of 5 bodies suddenly entering a small house making it shake alittle. Mrs. Weasley looked up.   
  
"Oh, are you back in already? That didn't take long, did it? See how much you can get done when you put your back into it?" George was about to complain, but saw that Mrs. Weasley was smiling. "We're going upstairs," he replied, and lo and behold, he and his twin went upstairs.   
  
Harry, Ron, and Lacci walked into the living room, where they sat down on the couch opposite Percy. Percy, as usual, had his nose deep in a book. Actually, this wasn't true. If his nose had actually been IN the book, we'd all be very frightened, especially if it was the main character. And if it was just really close to the book and attached to Percy's head, it would be hard to read. It is therefore safe to say that Percy's nose was about a foot and a half above his book and over to the side a little, as her was leaning on the armchair's left arm, curled up comfortably.   
  
Lacci walked up and poked him in the bum. D'aaawwww," she said, smiling down at him.   
  
Percy jumped, nearly screaming in surprise. His glasses bounced down his nose an inch, and he pushed them back up. He looked up at Lacci. "_Please_ dont do that," He said, sounding dignified. He ignored Harry and Ron's stifled giggles. He scooted a little, so he was no longer sitting on one foot and could hide his posterior safely beneath the rest of him. Ron reached up and tugged lightly at Lacci's pant leg, motioning for her to sit down. She plopped down next to Harry, and the seat gave a slight squeek. Harry turned to Lacci.   
  
"So now you're all bouncy and happy all the sudden?" He noticed her bruises were healing amazingly fast, they were barely noticable compared to that morning. All the blood had left her eyes, though they were still pinkish. Her hair, now washed, wasn't flat and greasy and dark, like Snape's hair. It was fluffy and a happy green color. Like he remembered from his dream, her hair was brown and fuzzy in the back. However, she was still much thinner.   
  
Lacci nodded happily. Since she had gotten to Harry's friend's house, she had been introduced to five fun new people, six if you counted Grubble, she had learned a lot of english, and she had gotten the freedom to move about as she pleased without worrying about muggles. And everyone was _so_ polite to her. "Are we staying here?" she asked.   
  
Harry shook his head no, although now he had to wonder. Would the Dursleys accept him back home? He assumed they would settle down and forget, but there was no way they would let Lacci back in. Whatever she had done, she had done it good and hard. From what Harry had seen, she had only frightened Dudley a little (no harm in that). But there was that first night, and the countless nights before Harry had gotten home. Who knew what she had done during that time?   
  
Percy was finding it very hard to read with Lacci in the room. She had something about her that made you want to stare at her, even if she wasn't doing anything. Right now, however, she was doing something. Without Harry's noticing, she had put her leg on his leg, and was playing with a frayed patch of jean by his pants pocket. (a/n: Lacci is possessed by Harpo's ghost, in my opinion. So she can get away with alot of his gags) Percy cleared his throat, and Harry looked up at him, then looked over at Lacci. His eyes widened a little and he pushed her leg off.   
  
Lacci just smiled and put her leg back where it was. He pushed it off again. She put it back. Harry smiled and put his opposite leg on top of her's. Lacci put her other leg on his. Harry thought for a moment, then complied by putting his arm on her leg. Lacci put her arm on his arm. He put his arm on top of her arm, and she put her other arm on top of his. Ron snorted at their current body lock. Harry put his head on Lacci's arm, and she put her head on his head, giggling. Ron pulled at Harry, and he pushed Lacci off. Lacci, however, didn't seem to notice, being too happy to care. She leaned her head against Harry's shoulder, and quietly drifted off to sleep.   
  
***   
  
Harry looked down at the fragile little girl sleeping on his shoulder. She was much different from the first night he had met her. She was much more calm, for one thing. At least, she didn't go about smashing furniture. That was always a good sign. Harry wondered where she had come from. What had she done to go to Azkaban? There were so many questions to ask, and Lacci had so few interpretable words to answer them with. Harry sighed and smiled down at her.   
  
Ron, completely not sensing Harry's Moment, reached over and shook his shoulder. "Hey Harry... let's go upstairs, and let Lacci sleep down here for a while. There's more room down here anyway."   
  
Without turning his head away from the girl next to him, Harry said softly, "No... I think I'll stay down here tonight. Lacci gets out of whack when she wakes up and I'm not there." He pushed some hair out of Lacci's face.   
  
Ron shrugged. "Have it your way. I'll be upstairs, if you need me." Ron, looking disgruntled, stood up, said goodnight to Percy and his parents, and headed upstairs to his room.   
  
Harry waved goodnight to Ron, and put his arm around Lacci's shoulder, for his own comfort more than anything. Percy smiled at the image before him and said, "You're very cute together."   
  
Harry jumped, nearly waking Lacci up. Despite Percy being right in front of him, Harry had forgotten he was there. Somehow, it didn't seem so insulting when Percy said it. "Thanks," he said, not wanting to get into anything right now. 


	12. A Talk Between Lacci and Ron

Ron stormed up the stairs and slammed his door behind him. One of the bright orange Chudley Cannons posters on his wall shook slightly. He didn't notice. He threw himself onto his small bed, which bounced, and stared up at his slanted wall.   
  
_I thought Harry had come over here to see _me_,_ Ron thought grumpily, staring furiously at an orange sticker on his ceiling with CC and a cannonball next to it. He needed to concentrate his mind on something else, anything else...   
  
The sticker was oval shaped and about 3 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. The C's were bold and black, as was the cannonball. The sticker was very old, and peeling at the edges. Part of it was ripped off where Ron had once been fiddling with it. It used to be shiny, in that captivating way brand new stickers always were, but in time, the shiny layer began to chip, and the sticker was covered in a thin layer of dust.   
  
Being unable to find anything else to notice about the sticker, other than it was a very stupid and pointless sticker stuck to his ceiling, Ron was forced back into his present situation.   
  
Ron was the youngest boy in a family of 7 kids. He had a lot to live up to. He didn't often get noticed or praised by his family. At school, two of his older brothers still went there, and they still outdid him. Even in being the class clowns, they managed to have high marks. The only people he had to look towards were Harry and Hermione.   
  
Ron and Harry were best friends. They had been since they first boarded the Hogwarts Express, 4 years ago. Ron had always been jealous of Harry's fame. He had defeated the Dark Lord numerous times, had a godfather from Azkaban, and the headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, certainly seemed to have a soft spot for him. He was in one of their spellbooks, for mice's sake! And now he had come to stay with Ron, bringing yet another adventure with him, a cute girl who's obsessed with him. And Harry had chosen her over him. Over Ron, his best friend. That's what hurt most.   
  
Tired of moping, Ron sat up, grabbed a quill and paper, and began to write to Hermione.   
  
***   
  
Grubble cautiously peeked through the curtain of hair. There wasn't much to hide behind. Lacci appeared to be leaning over on someone, asleep by the sound of it. Grubble looked up at who she was leaning against.   
  
There was a large cheek. Beyond Lacci's head was just visible a closed eye. The human's hair was black, and all over the place. This person also appeared to be asleep, but Grubble wasn't sure. She was only 7 lights and almost 8 darks wise. (a/n: 7 days, 8 night old. about 4-5 years old for a human)   
  
Grubble decided to wake the human that she knew was friendly. She turned and pushed her hands into Lacci's temple, yanking on her hair. Her jerking about caused Moo Wormy, her stuffed grub (an actual stuffed grub, not the cheap cloth imitation) to slip from her grasp and fall into Lacci's lap. Lacci opened her eyes, and turned her head as much as was possible without knocking Grubble off her slim shoulder. Grubble whispered something in her ear, and pointed at Moo Wormy. Lacci very carefully reached down, picked up the floppy grub toy, and handed it to Grubble with one of her fingers. Grubbled hugged it tightly and jumped up and down. She whispered and excited thank you to Lacci, and began zooming her doll around.   
  
Harry, quite luckily, was alseep. Percy had gone back to reading his book, and he was smiling. Lacci furrowed her brow, trying to decide whether to remain safely next to the sleeping Potter, or to bring her new friend upstairs where they could play. She decided that she had probably spent too much time with Harry, and should give him some thime to rest. She carefully stood up, and Harry slumped onto the couch where she had been sitting. She nodded a goodnight to Percy, who shuffled his bottom underneath him and nodded back. Lacci hugged a silent goodnight to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, who appeared ready to go to sleep themselves. Then she climbed the narrow staircase and quietly opened the door.   
  
The door to the wrong room. A beaten up stuffed bear with a drawn italian-chef moustache missed Lacci's head by inches. It hit the wall behind her and fell to the floor. Fred called quietly, "Er.. sorry, thought you were someone else. Can I have Chico back?" Lacci smiled, laughing a little. She bent over and threw the bear back, hitting Fred in the foot. "Thanks," he whispered, and she shut the door.   
  
The next room was Ron's room. Lacci opened and shut the door silently, and watched the tall lankey figure that was Ron bent over a piece of paper, writing. Instead of politely clearing her throat, she crept up silently behind him, blowing down the neck of his shirt. Ron yelped and jumped, making a huge blotty line across his paper. "Dont _do_ that!" he hissed at her, as Mrs. Weasley called up for them to shush.   
  
The steps creaked as someone climbed them, sounding as though they were trying to make no noise. There was a click as a door opened, and the sound of a bear hitting someone in the glass of iced water. This was followed by an unmanly scream and the sound of ice hiting the edges of a plastic cup as they made their way up and into someone's nightwear. Someone said "Score!" Then more thudding, like the sound of an angry mother at 11 pm stomping up a bunch of steps to punish some loud boys. Ron's door creaked open a notch, and two eyes appeared by it. One was brown, and one was green. The green eye, which was below the brown one, bumped the brown one's owner's chin with the top of their owner's head. The brown eye stopped himself from yelping again.   
  
Mrs. Weasley was giving both the twins stern looks, and by the look of it, Fred and Gerge were thinking up an excuse as she ranted. It was amazing how loud their mother could be while whispering.   
  
"And its the middle of the night, people are trying to sleep!" She finished. Percy, who was holding a plate carrying two sandwiches and a book (the book wasnt on the plate, it was in his other hand), slipped past the three and scooted into his room, nodded them all a goodnight and quickly shut his door. George spoke up, and Ron waited in expectation, knowing he would come up with some sort of loophole and get himself out of trouble.   
  
"He started it," George said, pointing to Fred.   
  
"I was being perfectly quiet, it's not my fault he spilled ice water down his jammies. I was just trying to get some decent sleep. But you know Chico, he gets very thirsty at night, and when he saw George's water, he sorta zoomed through the air, like this," Fred said, demonstrating with the bear, "And George was surprised and wet himself."   
  
Despite her anger, Mrs. Weasley couldn't help smiling in amusement at Fred's explanation. "Both of you, go off to bed, and _be quiet_." She pushed them back into their room and shut the door. Ron's door shut as well, and Molly went back downstairs.   
  
George, who had been jumping from foot to foot, quickly pulled off his pyjama pants and top, which were plaid and fuzzy and had a large G on them. Even his boxers were slightly damp, but he suddenly decided to leave them on, noticing a small green eye on his wall that hadn't been there earlier.   
  
Fred also had noticed the eye. "That's a nifty decoration," he mused, and they walked over to it. It looked up at them, somehow conveying innocence, despite the only visible part of it being the actual eyeball. George leaned down, until he was eye to eye with Lacci.   
  
"Yeeeess?"   
  
"Is my Aunt Minnie in there?" Lacci asked. George grinned. "No, but you can look around if you like. If you cant find her, maybe you can find someone better." Then he continued, "Hey Lacci, I bet you're really tired. Why dont you go to sleep, and we can play in the morning?"   
  
Lacci seemed to consider this, and nodded. The top and bottom halves of the eye disappeared behind their respective side of the hole as she did this. "Oki, I see you tomorrow." The eye disappeared, and George put a peice of paper in front of the hole, so he could finish changing into his new jammies. Fred had already hopped into the bottom bunk, and was reading... HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER THE PHOENIX, OH MY ME!!! Hee, I kid. He was actually reading A Beater's Bible, so hah.   
  
***   
  
"Where's Harry?" Ron asked Lacci, and she made herself comfortable on the floor, by kicking Ron's junk out of the way. "He's asleep downstairs," She replied, only half paying attention. The rest of her attention was focused on the small voice in her ear.   
  
"Pinny spoogle floogle win hoppity. Buggah buggah shicken boi."   
  
"Irp. Danke, tishow noddle-dock foobly."   
  
"What?" Ron asked, afraid she had said something awful about him straight to his face, without him understanding it. Lacci snapped her head up.   
  
"I say, he looking cute when he asleep downstairs." Lacci's english was not very good, and she had to use the form of the words as she had learned them, but it got the point across. Ron nodded and muttered something.   
  
"What?" Lacci asked, as she flopped herself down on the carpet. She had been getting the vibes that Ron was fairly annoyed at her, and wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to make things right between them.   
  
"Nothing," Ron said, pulling off his shoes. They sat in uncomfortable silence as the prepared for bed.   
  
"Lacci?"   
  
"Hmm?"   
  
"Why are you so obsessed with Harry?"   
  
Lacci opened her mouth and paused. She didn't know the english words to explain it. "Just am," she said lamely. Ron appeared to be too busy pulling his shirt over his head to notice her answer, and then became too busy arranging tomorrow's clothing to answer her.   
  
Lacci stood up silently, avoided the things on Ron's floor as she crossed the room, and gave Ron a big hug from behind.   
  
This caught Ron completely off guard. He jumped, almost making a noise. He wasn't used to girls hugging him. Then he gave in and hugged her back. Lacci smiled as she let go and said, "Thats why I like Hayyee Pohher." She returned to her bedspot, and lay down to go to sleep. As she did so, something crawled from behind her ear and made itself comfortable in the small bed Lacci had made for it under a pile of junk.   
  
"And if you wan' to talk, I am there. I t'ink I know enough English to talk."   
  
Ron turned off his light, and could have sworn he heard a tiny snoring sound coming from a pile of his stuff near Lacci. It was probably a mouse or something, he conceded.   
  
"Lacci?"   
  
"Hmm?"   
  
"How much English do you know, exactly?"   
  
***   
  
Downstairs, on a faded maroon and green couch, Harry twitched in his sleep.   
  
(a/n: this is the dream I had last night, and there isnt much purpose to Harry having the dream. yet. there might be. You dont always have dreams about your current situation, you know. I myself had a dream about quidditch once... *emmu's sister falls asleep*)   
  
There was a restrurant. A couple was getting married, and people were eating. Harry was the waiter, serving everyone. Just as he was complimenting the groom's jacket, someone rushed into the store. Two someones. A shapely but thin woman, and a man wearing black sunglasses and holding a large muggle gun (a/n: trinity and the computer dude from The Matrix. by computer dude, I mean the one who was different from the other computer dudes, and got run over by a train). They were all decked out in Matrix-y clothing. The man stepped forward and, using his gun like a wand, seemed to take a part of Harry and add it to his own body. Then he spoke.   
  
"I know what you are. I know who you are. I know what you want. You are an android. You feed off other people's emotions to keep you alive. What a filthy, meaningless, pathetic life. It isn't even a life. I wont let you ruin the lives of people who have them, android." There was a round table between Harry and the man. There was no one sitting at it, and in fact it looked very out of place in the fancy restaurant. Harry ducked under it, and the man charged towards him with the gun in hand.   
  
After only 10 seconds, Harry had the man above him. He was too fast, there was no way to escape. The man scowled down at him through the glasses, and aimed his large gun straight at Harry's head. There was a blast of green light (a/n: in the actual dream, he just blasted me to pieces and I flew apart, metal everywhere).   
  
Suddenly, Harry found himself in a desert. The shape of the hills gave the effect that someone had taken the ice cream scooper into the sandbox. Luckily, Harry could see a large wall and a door, just a few dunes away.   
  
The wall was an old, brick wall. It looked like someone had painted it with black paint, but the wind and the sand had made it peel and the color now looked more like a dirty greyish tan. It was huge, and seemed to go on endlessly in both directions. Harry crawled over the sand, hoping to reach the door quickly. As he crawled, he kept passing dead lizards, dried up in the sand. Just small, dead lizards. It was unnerving.   
  
Harry reached the door, and pulled it open. It was a heavy oak door, and there was sand in the hinges. He yanked it open and shoved it shut behind him. He was now in what could have been a room. There was the front wall, where Harry came in, there were walls on either side of him, there was a floor, even though it was covered in sand, but the wall opposite to door looked as though it had been hacked through by 7 men holding crowbars. Pretty much the whole wall was taken out, revealing more normal sand dunes, a shed with no door, a beaten up playhouse with, oddly enough, a sandbox, a driveway, and far off in the distance, an oasis. There were more dried lizards.   
  
The room contained alot of dirty sand, lying around on the floor. There was a broom, snapped in half, leaning in the corner. There were upturned boxes and crates all over the place, and Lacci was sitting on one of them. Harry walked over to her and sat down.   
  
"They'll come to get you, you know. They wont stop until you're dead for good." Lacci was fiddling with a crate that still had things in it. It looked as though it contained a bunch of potions, but they were all poweder. Harry picked a container up and examined it. It was triangle, and had a sticker with blue bubbles on the front. The containers were plastic, and had twistable tops. The sticker said "Diet 7up." On the opposite side of the container was another sticker, which gave the ingredients and directions. "Just add -------," this one said. The last word Harry couldnt seem to read for some reason. All the containers were perfectly new looking, but he couldnt read the last word.   
  
Finally he realized what it was, not being too quick on the uptake. It was powder soda! And there were Dr. Pepper and Cherry Coke and Mr. Pibb... they must be some sort of survival food. Harry wondered if there were any other crates with things in them, but he became aware of an army of about 50 men on the other side of the wall, one of them hacking at the door with a very large stick, and breaking through it. Harry knew it was the man, and his reinforcements. Lacci knew it too. Harry asked her to hide him.   
  
"I wont help you hide, they have to kill you. But you can run and hide yourself. They will find you." Harry began running out the broken down wall, just as the man's stick appeared through the door.   
  
Harry found that, no matter how much force he used in propelling himself, no matter how fast and hard he tried to run, he seemed to be moving in slow motion. The man was catching up. Harry fell to the ground, which was littered with crinkly dead lizards the size of his thumb. Harry hurried into the shed, and hid in a bucket under a seat, the most impossible place to fit into. He sat quietly, trying not to breathe but finding himself louder than anything else all the same. The man stepped into the shed, pulled the bucket from under the seat, and looked down at Harry.   
  
Harry looked up, curled up in the position one might be in if they were hiding in a plastic bucket. The ceiling looked back down at him. It was a fair guess that it was about 5 am, as there was already a touch of pink outside. Harry closed his eyes, got comfortable, and fell back to sleep, unaware of the conversation under way right above him. 


	13. Acceptance Letter

Monthes passed. Lacci grew on the Wealseys. The Weasleys grew on Lacci. She learned with Percy (who was more than happy to have someone so interested in what he did), played with Fred and George (who thought she was the most adorable little girl in the world), played chess and hung out with Ron (only beat him 12 out of 16 tries), did girlie things with Ginny (played in the sandbox, drew pictures, talked about Harry), experimented with Arthur and his muggle findings ("It zapped me!! The muggle thing zapped me!!), learned to bake with Molly ("the cutest little chef"), and got along tremendously well with Bill and Charlie when they visited ("Why can't we have a little sister like this?").   
  
Lacci had also filled out a bit during the months with the Weasley family. She was well fed enough. While staying unhealthily thin and pale, she now had a bit of a shape, much like a girl of 13 years old would have. She always appeared bright and happy, and was the first up every morning, and the last to bed every night. One afternoon, in late July, a letter appeared on the doorstep of the Burrow.   
  
"Mum! Mum! Look!" Ginny called, picking it up and rushing it inside. Harry and Fred, who were playing wizard chess on the coffee table in the living room, looked up in interest. George, who was watching the game, smiled. "What is it?" Harry asked curiously.   
  
"It's a letter for Lacci!" She cried happily, and Lacci came bounding into the room, shaking it a little. "It's from Hogwarts! She's been accepted!"   
  
"Oh, that's wonderful news, dearie!" Molly Weasley called from the kitchen. She strode into the living room, drying her hands on a dish towel, while Lacci was already trying to bite the wax seal off. She pried the crumpled letter gently from Lacci's little hands, and folded it open. Lacci bounced.   
  
"Let me read it out loud! I can read!"   
  
Molly chuckled. "Alright honey," and she handed the letter to Lacci.   
  
Lacci had a strange way of twisting things when she reads them. She often has to add a touch of humor to them. That is why the entire room snorted with laughter as Lacci read the letter.   
  
"Dear Lacci De Vrij,   
  
We regret to inform you that you have been accepted to Hoggle's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and More Witchcraft.   
  
Students shall be required to report to the Chamber of Deception upon revival, the prune for which shall be duly advised.   
  
Please ensure that the utmost attention be made to the list of requirements attached herewidth.   
  
We very much look forward to receiving you as a part of the new vegetation of Hoggle's heritage.   
  
Draco Door me-ins Nun Quab Teatill Windos   
  
Professor McDonalds."   
  
Then there was a supplies list, which Lacci read in her head.   
  
_First year students will require:   
  
1. Three sets of plain work robes  
2. One plain pointed hat for day wear  
3. One pair of dragon-hide gloves  
  
And the following set of books:  
  
1. 'The Standard Book of Spells' by Miranda Goshawk  
2. 'A Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi' by Phyllida Spore  
3. 'A History of Magic' by Bathilda Bagshot  
4. 'Magical Theory' by Adalbert Waffling  
5. 'A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration' by Emeric Switch  
6. 'Magical Drafts and Potions' by Arsenius Jigger  
7. 'Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them' by Newt Scamander  
8. 'The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection' by Gwentin Trimble  
  
All students must be equipped with:  
  
1. One wand  
2. One standard size 2 pewter cauldron  
  
And may bring, if the desire, either an owl, a cat, or a toad.  
  
Lucinda Thomsonicle-Pocus  
Chief Attendant of Witchcraft Provisions_   
  
Lacci nodded and smiled. She was extremely happy she could read now. She had already looked through alot of these books, because the Weasleys obviously had them lying about for their own children. Then Harry brought up and interesting notion.   
  
"She's going into first year, right? She's a 13 year old. What if no one likes her?"   
  
There was a moment of silence. Then the room burst with laughter, Fred and George howling the loudest. George was red in the face and slapping his knee, and Fred was patting George on the back while at the same time pretending he was out of breath. "Whoo hoo... good one, Harry.."   
  
Fred straightened up. "If no one likes her, we'll MAKE them like her!"   
  
"We'll be her guards, and stand next to her all day and night so no one can beat up on her," George piped in.   
  
"Just like Crabbe and Goyle to Malfoy," Ginny agreed, and they all laughed again, with the exception of Molly, who had gone back into the kitchen. Lacci sat down next to George, to watch the chess game. Ginny gave Lacci a thumbs up, and went off to help mom with the dishes.   
  
Harry looked down at the board. He blinked. He could have sworn the peices hadn't been like that. He was about to win, last time he looked. He looked sardonically up at Fred, who looked like the sweetest angel in the heavens. It looked like he had stuffed some chessmen in his feathery wings, as well.   
  
***   
  
Later that afternoon, Lacci went up to Ron's room, and looked under Ron's bed. There was a small wooden bungalow. Lacci whistled, and a small head appeared at it's entrance.   
  
"Gurger wubbin' la amm chu."   
  
Lacci frowned. "Nah gurger wubbin, fweeb yyit-noh."   
  
The gnome shook her head, denying that whatever Lacci had said was true. Lacci nodded. "Arsh too!" She insisted. The gnome folded her little arms and stomped her foot into Ron's carpet. Lacci gave in, reached into her pocket, and pulled out a blueberry. She handed it to the gnome, who smiled. "Danke," it said, and walked back inside it's little den.   
  
It's probably time for a bit of explaination. Lacci adopted Grubble the Gnome as her familiar, because Lacci needed one, and Grubble's parents didn't treat her well. Lacci promised to sneak food to Grubble and give her a home all to herself. I wont translate their conversation, but I'm sure you can fathom it had something to do with the blueberry. I also wont bother explaining where the blueberry came from. I'll continue writing.   
  
Ron climbed the staircase and pushed open his door, to see Lacci on all fours on his floor. He wasn't surprised.   
  
"Hallo Lacci. Excited about going to Hogwarts this year?" He asked conversationally as he sat down on his bed.   
  
Lacci scrambled to her feet, and over to the little bed Mrs. Weasley had set up for her. "I can't wait," she said. "I'll finally get to go to Hoghead's and meet all of Hayee Pohher's friends. And Herminniny too!" Lacci still wasn't very sharp on some words. Percy had given up trying to make her pronounce them.   
  
"That's great," Ron said in a friendly tone. He and Lacci were on more friendly terms now, now that she shared Harry with him. "I'm sure Hermione will love you. Mum says we're going to get school supplies tomorrow, and Harry convinced her that you should be able to get a familiar." Noting the look of confusement on Lacci's face, he continued. "A familiar is a pet. Like a cat, or an owl. "   
  
Lacci grinned. She already had a familiar, but she hadn't told anyone yet. She wanted it to be a surprise. "I cant wait," she said, and it was the truth. Lacci had been awaiting Diagon Alley for a long time. She wanted to see all the places, she wanted to buy things. Ginny told her about shopping all the time. It sounded like the funnest thing in the world, next to Quidditch, which Harry had explained in full detail. Lacci was so impressed when Harry told her he was the seeker for his team, and that he was the youngest seeker in a millenium. That sounded like her Harry.   
  
***   
  
The next day, the family and guests awoke, dressed, ate breakfast, piled into Mr. Weasley's new car, and drove off. Just as they were out of the driveway, Mrs. Weasley stopped them. "Has everyone gone to the bathroom?" There was a series of yesses and nos.   
  
"Well, go quickly, then."   
  
"But mum, I don't have to go!"   
  
"I'm squashed between Fred and George, I can't get out!"   
  
Ten minutes later, they were off again. "Everyone wearing seatbelts?" Mr. Weasley asked. There was the sound of a few clicks of people's seatbelts. "Good." Halfway down the street, Ginny started screaming. "MY MONEY, MY MONEY!!! IT'S UP IN MY ROOM!!" She dashed out of the car.   
  
20 minutes later, they were on the highway. Fred, George, Lacci and Ginny were singing road songs, while Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were talking about money and road signs and such. Harry and Ron had struck up a fascinating debate about Quidditch teams, which I'm not going to record here. They were off.   
  
After a few long hours, countless songs, 4 bathroom breaks and a fight in the back ("if you two dont stop fighting, I'll stop the car and go back there to settle it, and you really don't want that!"), they finally arrived. They all piled into the Leaky Cauldron, and from there into Diagon Alley. A thought struck Harry.   
  
"Mrs. Weasley?"   
  
"Yes dear?" Molly asked, turning around after fixing Ginny's hair.   
  
"Why didn't we take the floo powder, as usual?" As much as Harry distrusted the stuff, it was still a wonder why they hadn't used it. Mrs. Weasley's eyes darted towards Fred and George, who smiled and waved.   
  
"Well, two someones set fire to it with a firework, and not only ruined all of it, but ruined the pot we had been keeping it in and the mantelpiece on top of the fireplace."   
  
"Ah," Harry said, and dropped it. That wasn't something to bring up, if they all wanted to stay in a happy mood today.   
  
Mr. Weasley pulled the group off to the side, out of traffic. They all huddled around him, as he told them they would be splitting up today. They were to meet at Madam Malkin's in 3 hours. They were paired off; Fred and George, Percy and Ginny, Arthur and Molly , and that left Harry, Ron and Lacci. They all set off in opposite directions.   
  
Harry, Ron and Lacci walked a little ways down the street, before Ron stopped them. "Let's check our lists, see where's closer." After some list comparing, they headed off towards Flourish and Blotts. Lacci bounced right along next to Harry, holding his hand so she wouldn't get lost in the rush of people. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, there was a warm breeze, the sky had big wavy clouds that would have made Lacci think of the beach, had she ever seen it before. Lacci patted her pocket, and it wiggled and swore. She smiled.   
  
Harry and Ron headed towards the back of the shop, searching for their books. Lacci already had most of hers, hand-me-down presents from the Weasleys, so she decided to do a little exploring. She sat down on top of a pile of books and began rocking from side to side lazily, looking around the shop. After a while, a woman came up and told her off, so she smiled gaily and skipped out into the marketplace.   
  
***   
  
Fred and George, having profits from their joke shop in their pockets, made their way to the quidditch supplies store.   
  
"Looks like they haven't got any new models yet since the firebolt," Fred said, pointing to the firebolt that remained in the window.   
  
"Well," said George, "Lets go in and see what else they've still got." They hurried into the shop.   
  
The room was small and homely; brooms of all different types were mounted on the walls, there were autographed posters of famous quidditch teams all over the walls, quidditch robes of many colors on racks, balls and bats along the far end wall, and a little checkout counter right next to the door. The woman behind the counter leaned over and said, "Can I help you two boys?"   
  
She was tall and muscular, her scrubby blonde hair was back in a ponytail. Her face was neither hideous nor beautiful. She was wearing bright red robes, and they had the name "Marilyn Purplux" stitched into the front.   
  
"Nah," Fred said, watching the Quiberon Quafflepunchers in their pink robes, scoring a winning throw in their poster. They flew to the ground and congratulated each other, while the stands behind them were jumping and swinging their arms in the air. "We're just browsing, for now."   
  
Ms. Purplux gave them a look but went back to her work behind the counter.   
  
George burst out of a changing room, wearing bright yellow robes and a Quodpot helmet (a/n: I cant remember the sport where you fly around with a bucket on your head and catch falling rocks, so I have to use the word Quodpot. I know Qodpot has to do with an exploding ball, but this is the best I can do. Tell me the name of the sport, and I'll add it.). "Taadaa," he sang, and struck a pose. Fred started laughing, George laughing with him. "How fitting!" He cried happily, as George spun around, making the robes billow gracefully around him. They went to the back of the shop, without George changing his clothing, and examined the beater's bats.   
  
"Maybe we should both get two, they it'd be like Gryffindor having four beaters!" Fred held up two bats in a kung fu position. He pretended to beat the crap out of someone with them. "HOI!! HWAH!! HAAAIII-AH! FOOOO SHOOO!! Take--dat--yoo--slymee--Slytherin--"   
  
"Well, we've got the money, why not get another bat each anyway? We both need it, our bats are old and worn. After this we can go get our school things, like mummy told us." George was removing the yellow robes (he had his own clothing underneath them), and they had gotten caught on his helmet. He looked like an arabian prince, or as though he had just gotten out of the shower. Fred pulled the helmet and robes off him, put them back where they belonged, and they both went to the front coutner with their new bats.   
  
"5 galleons," Purplux said. The twins reached into their pockets to pull out their money... but it was gone. 


	14. Chapter 13 1/2

**The text document wouldn't let me write any more in it. This is just chapter 13, continued.**  
  
Someone bumped into Lacci with their hip, sending her to the ground. Or rather, the floor. She had landed in a shop full of bats and rats and snakes and cats and toads and frogs and salamanders and many other animals. Lacci shot a dirty glance at the place in the crowd where the person bumped into her, and stood up. She felt in her pocket to see if Grubble was ok. It felt like it. Lacci started to explore the shop.   
  
The room smelled highly of animals, reptiles, mammals, insects, birds.... Lacci walked past a puffskein, which bounced and cooed at her. _This must be the zoo,_ Lacci thought. Lacci had never been to the zoo, but the books said it had animals in cages, and this fit that description.   
  
An old hag of a witch appeared behind Lacci. "Can I help you with something, my sweet?"   
  
Lacci turned and grinned at the woman. "Yes, please. Are there any dragons here?"   
  
The woman laughed. "No, I'm afraid we don't sell dragons. you should know that." She paused, looking Lacci over. "You look like a cat person, my dear. Why don't you follow me, I think I've got just the familiar for you." Lacci started to protest, about to show the woman Grubble, but was afraid the woman would take Grubble away, saying you needed a liscense or something. Lacci allowed herself to be led to the other side of the shop.   
  
The old witch stopped in front of a large cage, containing the strangest cat Lacci had ever seen. He was tall and elegant, with long persian-like fur. His fur was silver at the roots, but black at the tips. He was beautiful. He had ears like an owl, and large, patient yellow eyes. He was standing straight up as Lacci approached, but layed down and started to lick himself when the witch stopped by him. In the position he was in now, Lacci could see most of his body. He was giant, much larger than the normal cat. About he size of a large fox, actually. His tail was long and fluffy, and yet remained as silky as the rest of him. He was very sleek; what you would imagine a night breeze would look like if it were a cat. Lacci stared in awe and fascination.   
  
The old witch seemed pleased. "We've had him for a while-- everyone wants him, but he doesn't seem to get along with anyone else. We had to de-claw him after his last owner's child was nearly blinded by him. Naturally I wouldn't tell a customer this sort of thing, but by the look in your eyes, you've seen worse. I suggest you take a few minutes with him, so he can get to know you. Come up to the front, by the desk, and tell me if you want him." She winked at Lacci, and hobbled off to the front.   
  
Lacci looked back up at the marvelous creature. She had to stand on tippy toes to see him well. The cat, taking more interest in her now that the old witch was gone, leaned forward and pressed his nose up against the mesh wiring. Lacci pressed her nose up against his, and stared into his large eyes. He appeared to be reading her mind. Lacci, not one to deny anyone the right to a look in her mind, let him, staring back up into his eyes.   
  
"God," Lacci muttered. "Your name is God, isn't it? That's what you named yourself. That's what I'll call you. God.." God seemed to nod, although his head barely moved. Lacci had no religion of any sort, and didn't know anything about the word God. But she knew it fitted him very, very well.   
  
"I'll take him," Lacci said, standing at the counter minutes later. The old witch smiled. "I'm sure he'll be a perfect familiar for you. He costs 6 galleons." Lacci reached into her pocket. The Wealseys had given her several sickles and knuts to buy her supplies. Lacci pulled out 5 galleons, which she had pinched from Fred and George's pockets while Arthur was talking to them. She put them out on the counter.   
  
"I said six, dear," said the witch patiently. Lacci thought. An idea struck her. she cupped her hands around Grubble and pulled her out of her pocket, and started whispering to her. The witch leaned over the counter, interested in whatever it was Lacci was holding.   
  
After a few moments, Lacci looked up and said, "Can I make a trade? I've already got a familiar... Grubble..." Lacci showed her gnome to the woman, who laughed. "You cant pay with a common garden gnome, child! What would I do with a gnome?"   
  
"This is a tame gnome! She's very nice. She wants a new home, one full of children who will play with her. She doesn't bite people and she's very friendly." Grubble, on cue, jumped off Lacci's hand, and stuck hers out to the old woman. "Itty wordle foop-un spitnik wee herklee waugh," she said, sounding confident and official. The old woman laughed again, more heartily.   
  
"There might be something in that... garden gnomes aren't illegal pets, and one like this might actually be worth something... can it learn to speak english?"   
  
Lacci looked down at Grubble. "Icky icky nooo whop bang bang all beeker-nish?" The gnome, to both Lacci's and the old witch's surprise, nodded. "Grubble noe litlell ningnish."   
  
"Okay girlie, it's a deal. I'll keep the money and the gnome, you keep the cat." She gave an appraising look at the gnome, and headed for the side wall. She came back moments later with the giant cat trailing behind her. He was too large for someone of the woman's strength to lift. Lacci was right.. he even walked like a fox. The old woman pushed some paper's Lacci's way, and told her to sign them.   
  
After Lacci signed all the papers, she said a sad goodbye to Grubble, who hugged her thumb tightly, and Lacci left the shop, God walking behind her.   
  
***   
  
"Lacci, what's that other book... you... needed...?" Ron stuck her head over the pile of books, looking around for Lacci. "Harry! Harry, I can't find Lacci," he said as quietly as possible, not wanting to upset the bookseller, and much less the books.   
  
Harry stumbled out behind a shelf, a large pile of books in his hands. "What do you _mean_ you can't find Lacci? Isn't she just out there?"   
  
"No, she isn't. Otherwise I would be able to find her." Harry rushed over to Ron, being careful not to drop his books, and looked around.   
  
"You're right.. I don't see her. Oh no.. I hope she isn't lost..." Ron gave Harry a sarcastic look. "No, she cant be lost, just because we cant find her and she's nowhere in this shop."   
  
They hurriedly paid for their books, and ran out into the moving crowd to look for Lacci.   
  
***   
  
Fred and George exchanged glances. Fred pulled George aside. "Hey.. did I give you the money?"   
  
"No, why would you trust me? I thought I gave it to you."   
  
They looked at each other. Then they looked at the bats. Then their looked at each other again. George took charge of the problem. He strode confidently back to the desk, and seized his bat. "Hmm... the quality isn't as good as I thought, I don't know if this is good enough for me..."   
  
Catching on, Fred picked up his. "It's too small, and too slow, I cant swing it fast enough.."   
  
"Definitely not very good work.."   
  
(hitting it against the metal counter and denting the counter) "The wood's too soft, looks like it might break..."   
  
George clapped his hands together. "Alltogether a completely waste of our time,"   
  
"I agree," Fred said. Purplux gave them a suspicious look. "We cant spend another minute in this shop, with such awful pieces of work." They dropped the bats on the counter and ran quickly out of the shop and halfway down the street until they slowed down. They exchanged glances.   
  
***   
  
Lacci sat outside the Apothecary, holding a bag of cotton candy that she seemed to have gotten out of nowhere. God was sitting next to her, pawing some cotton candy out of her bag and then eating it. With both of them sitting down, they were about the same height. Lacci's height was mostly in her legs. Lacci was humming some song she had heard off the radio and God was finishing off her candy. Lacci turned to God.   
  
"Do you think I should go and look for Hayee? I mean.. I don't want him to worry about me, after all. He'd be awfully upset if he couldn't find me."   
  
God looked at her, blinked, and ate the last of her cotton candy, still trying to chew it. Lacci giggled. "Alrighty then, I'll go. Come on." She stood up and picked up the cotton candy bag, folding it and stuffing it in her pocket. God followed her as she skipped along in the direction that might be to Flourish and Blotts. It was much easier to get through the crowds now-- most people stepped out of the way when Lacci pinched their bums or they saw a giant cat and a green-haired girl walking through the crowd.   
  
In the bookshop, Lacci went to the back, where she had last seen Harry and Ron. There was another boy there, but he didn't look at all like them. Quite the contrary, he was blonde and had pale skin and grey eyes. His clothing looked new and fancy and his expression was that of someone who acted extremely important, even when just around a bunch of books. Lacci bounded up.   
  
"Hey, have you seen Hayee or Ron?"   
  
The boy, startled, turned and looked her over. She was wearing some of Ginny's old clothes, and looked very homely. The boy sneered. "I'm sure I don't you who you're talking about, girl, but.." He stopped. God had jumped onto the books shelf he had been looking at, and was now staring down at him like a vulture. He found himself again and said, "This your cat?"   
  
Lacci smiled. "His name is God, I just got him. My name is Lacci De, what's yours?" She stuck out her hand to shake his.   
  
"Lacci De?" The boy asked, and seized her hand. He reconized her name.. he'd read about her in the paper. "My name is Draco. Draco Malfoy."   
  
Lacci took Draco's hand and put it under her knee, and then leaned on her leg. Draco, realizing what she had done, dropped her knee and pushed her away. She didn't seem fazed. "Draco? As in dragon? That's pretty. But if you haven't seen Hayee Pohher or Ron Weazley, then I cant talk to you right now."   
  
Lacci reached up and, with little difficulty, pulled God down and held him comfortingly in her arms. He was thin and extremely light, despite his size. She flashed Draco a Grin, which quickly became a normal grin, and then skipped away. Draco opened his mouth to say something, and changed his mind. He went back to his bookbuying, as though nothing had happened.   
  
***   
  
Percy held three books that he wanted to add to his collection, while Ginny was getting her school things. As Percy didn't need to go to school, he didn't need and supplies. But there was nothing wrong in learning more, in his opinion.   
  
Therefore, he should have no problem in learning why he was suddenly knocked over, and a large bunch of black fur was suddenly sitting on his face. And in fact, a moment later he did learn why. Lacci lifted God off his face and said, "Oh, I'm sorry I tripped an'... oh, hallo Percy."   
  
"Hallo, Lac_what on earth is that??_" Percy stared at God, and God stared back. "Lacci, who's is that? Where did you find it? Put it down, it might hurt you.."   
  
Lacci giggled girlishly. "Silly Percy. He's mine; I bought him. Percy, this is my familiar, God. God, this is the smartest person in the world, Percy." God nodded in recognition. Percy smiled to himself-- smartest person in the world. Lacci was always saying things like that about him. Percy got to his feet And looked down at Lacci. "Lacci, there's no way you could have afforded that. Mum and Dad agreed to buy you a familiar after all the other shopping was done. How did you pay for it?"   
  
Despite Percy's trust in Lacci, he was afraid she had done what she often did-- stolen it. Lacci didn't seem to grasp the concept of paying for things, she just took them. As though they were her own, and the person she took them from was just holding on to it for a while.   
  
Lacci was also extremely truthful. "I took the money out of Fred and George's pockets when they weren't looking. Then I bought the kitty and lost Hayee and Ron. Have you seen them?"   
  
Percy was about to speak when Ginny came back, carrying all her books in a bag. She looked at Lacci. "Oh, hello, nice cat." Ginny seemed unusually undisturbed by the two foot cat in Lacci's arms. It must be the stress of school supply buying, Percy convinced himself.   
  
"Well, we can worry about all that later. C'mon, I have to find the other two." Lacci dropped God, and he landed gracefully on the ground. "God, be my hunting cat. Can you find Hayee Pohher and Ron Weazley?" Percy looked skeptical, but God turned around and headed out of the shop. Lacci followed, Percy and Ginny behind her.   
  
God didn't, as Lacci had hoped, lead them to Harry and Ron. Instead, he led them to an ice cream shop, where he began eating someone's leftover ice cream cone. Percy sighed and sat down. "Lacci, it wasn't nice of you to steal Fred and George's money-- they earned it."   
  
Lacci nodded. "I know they earned it, they played a prank on me the other day and I was only getting them back."   
  
Percy looked confused for a moment, and then the stupidity of the word usage hit him. "I mean they earned the money, Lacci. They didn't earn you stealing it."   
  
"I didn't steal it," Lacci said defensively. "I only borrowed it for a bit."   
  
Percy dropped it. It was no use arguing with Lacci, she always ended up being right, even when she was clearly wrong. And when she wasn't right, she made you feel so guilty that you decided that she's not wrong.   
  
"We've still got two hours and 15 minutes until we've got to meet mom and dad at Madam Malkin's. Lacci's still got to get her wand, her robes, her cauldron, her potions..." Ginny set her books down on the table and sat down next to Lacci. "Lacci, which would you like to get first?"   
  
***   
  
They had checked most of the stores Lacci would have to go to, to get supplies. They hadn't found her anywhere.   
  
"Maybe she went back to the book shop to look for us, Harry."   
  
Harry shot Ron a look that said 'I've just run halfway across Diagon Alley, the sun is burning the back of my neck, I'm not going to go all the way back again.'   
  
"Alright, have you got a better idea?"   
  
"Yes, I do. Let's get some ice cream." Harry pulled out two sickles. "Come on."   
  
Ron had to agree. Ice cream sounded really tempting right now. It was hot out, and with all these people bustling about, the heat from the bodies minus the cool breeze that couldn't fit between them, Ron and Harry both had a thick layer (a/n: think lair) of sweat on them. Ron could feel his shirt sticking to his back.   
  
The sight they saw at the ice cream shop was enough to make them completely forget about ice cream. Lacci was sitting there, with a giant black cat, Ginny, and Percy. The cat was the first thing that caught Harry's attention. The second thing was Lacci bounding up and hugging him viciously.   
  
"Hey there Lacci, we thought we'd never see you again! Where did you go? Why didn't you stay in the shop with us?"   
  
Lacci avoided Harry's eyes, instead gazing at his feet. "'M sorry Hayee... the lady kicked me out of the shop... I had no where else to go..."   
  
Harry smiled and patted her shoulder. "Oh well, nothing awful happened, did it? You're not lost or hurt, and I'm not mad. Let's all get some ice cream, I'm burning up."   
  
Ron nodded. "That's great, I'm _starving.._." Ron hurried off to the table where Percy and Ginny were. After all the hello's, the other problem came up.   
  
"Hey, so who's pet is this..?" Ron started.   
  
"It's Lacci's," Percy answered. "She took some money from Fred and George and bought him with it. We're going to go over to the Magical Menagerie after we get her supplies and return him, and give Fred and George their money back, aren't we Lacci?" He looked at Lacci expectantly.   
  
"But.. but.. we can't return him to the store!! I paid for him, an' he likes me, an' I don't want to give him up... God, you don't want to go back there, do you? Tell them!" Lacci looked like she might cry in self defense.   
  
"God?" Ron asked, looking at the cat. He laughed. He turned to face Lacci. "Lacci, you know stealing is wrong."   
  
"But I didn't steal him!!"   
  
"But you stole the money from Fred and George," Harry said fairly, "It's money they earned, and they wanted to spend it."   
  
Lacci hung her head and hugged God around the neck. "I know.. but I don't want to give him up.. can't I work off the money?"   
  
Ginny spoke up. "Why don't we let Mom and Dad decide, and enjoy our ice cream while we're here?"   
  
Everyone agreed to that. Three sundaes, one double scoop and one flaming popsicle later, they were headed off to the Apothecary. This time Harry kept a close eye on Lacci, and Lacci bought all her supplies with her own money, and made sure God didn't eat anything floating in jars or hanging from the ceiling.   
  
After getting Lacci's cauldron, potion supplies, and books (_Magical Drafts and Potions_ was too burnt for use and _A History of Magic_ was lost somewhere in Ginny's room), the group came before Ollivander's. Buying the wand for a young witch or wizard was always a moment to savor.   
  
"Gasp," said Fred, "Once Lacci get's her wand.. she'll... she'll be all grown up!"   
  
"You're right!!" said George, wrapping his arms around Lacci's small shoulders from behind and clutching her head to his bosom. "Our little baby will be an adult!" Fred hugged Lacci and George and pretended to sob on George's shoulder.   
  
Harry, Ron and Ginny, pretending nothing was going on right behind them, walked into the shop. Fred and George followed swiftly, nearly knocking Lacci off her feet as they grabbed her hands and dragged her in.   
  
Ollivander's had the smell of dusty shelves stacked with magic. It was much the same smell in a library, but more wooden. There was a small desk in front, and chairs along the side of the room, by the window. Lacci companions sat down in their chairs; Ginny in the chair next to the display (a wand on a purple cushion); Ron on her left; Harry next to Ron, George lying across them and Fred sitting on his back. Ron and Harry pushed the twins off, and they made themselves fairly comfortable on the floor, tying the seated people's shoes together.   
  
And old man appeared from within the gloomy depths of the shelves. "Sorry, I didn't hear you come in. What's your name, dear? It's very important to know the name of the wand buyer. The wand chooses the owner, you know."   
  
Lacci giggled. The man looked like a turnip. "My name is Lacci De, are you Mr. Ollivander's Maker of Fine Wands Since 320 B.C.?"   
  
The man sidled over to her and sat down on his desk. "Indeed I am. And you are looking for a wand, Miss Lacey? Let me see what I can do."   
  
Lacci grinned. "It's Lacci, not Lacey," she said, but the man was already bustling about his shelves. He brought out a box. "maple, 7 inch, Unicorn Hair core, rather bendy. Well, try it out."   
  
Lacci looked at her wand, and hit Mr. Ollivander's desk sharply with it. It passed through the desk. "Nope," he said, snatching it back quickly and handing her another. "Rowan, 11 1/2 inches, Billywig Stinger core, firm and very good for levitating work. Here you go Larky." He handed her the wand.   
  
"Not your color," Ollivander said, and grabbed it out of her unwilling hand. He handed her another. "Willow, 9 inches, Dragon Heartstring core, really whippy. Good for charms." Lacci swished it and it made a twanging noise. Purple smoke began coming out the tip, with green sparks. Lacci tried shaking it to make it stop, and the smoke increased. Somewhere within the cloud of smoke, Mr. Ollivander removed the wand from her hand and put it back in the box, where smoke continued leaking through the lid.   
  
"Lackey!" Mr. Ollivander called.   
  
"That's my name!" lacci said cheerfully. She was stained purple.   
  
A tall boy made of knees and elbows and knobbly objects scrambled out from behind a shelf. "Yes, Mister Ollivander?"   
  
"Boy, go and fetch that wand I made yesterday." The boy nodded and ran off. "There's a good lad," Ollivander called after him. Lacci watched. "You have a son named Lackey?"   
  
"No, he's my apprentice. Smart boy, just not very good at making wands yet." Mr. Ollivander started picking his nails. "He'll be back any moment, don't worry." As Ollivander went on about the wand that he had just made the other day, and how sure he was that it was the wand for Lacci, Lacci looked around the shop boredly. Her gaze fell on the trash can by the desk, where there was a strangely multi-colored wand. Lacci picked it up.   
  
"Oh, put that down please, that's one of young Edward's wands. It's faulty." Mr. Ollivander reached for the rainbow wand but Lacci, not wanting to give it up, swished her hand out of the way. The air around her glowed suddenly silver, and the wand sent out green and grey sparks. Lacci grinned. Mr. Ollivander stared. Fred and George clapped.   
  
"Miss Lactose, I think you've found your wand!" Ollivander said softly, sounding awed. Just then Edward came back, Lacci turned and waved at him.   
  
"Guess what?" she called. "I get to keep this wand!" The boy smiled, exhausted, and set the wand he had run off to get on the desk. He looked up at Ollivander. "Good work boy, I guess I was wrong." The boy looked proud.   
  
"Now," Ollivander said, turning back to Lacci, "That will be five galleons. It cheaper because that one is from the trash, and not professionally made." Lacci stopped smiling, and looked back at Harry. "Can you spot me a fiver?" she asked hopefully. Harry laughed, and stood up. "Sure Lacci." He stepped forward and fell over, bringing Ron and Ginny with him. God watched with an amused expression, Fred and George started laughing, and Harry took his shoes off while Ron and Ginny started untying them. Ten minutes later they were out of the shop and off to Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.   
  
  
**Oki, you know the deal. I must have REE-VIEWS... sorry it took so long getting this chapter up. I kept writing bits and pieces, and then having to fill in the time between it. I actually got halves of 2 chapters, and as you can see, chapter 13 is so long it spills over into chapter 14. **


	15. Crisis Averted

Sitting inside the Robe's shop, Lacci sat and looked at her wand, twirling it between her fingers. It was wood stained many different colors. Lacci guessed it was by accident but thought it was pretty all the same. It was 13 1/4 inches long, and strangely sharp at the end, where Edward had whittled it too thinly. Edward had said the wood was birch and the core was from the tail fin if a Chimaera*, which he had found in the back of the shop. Mr. Ollivander had scolded him for wasting such a valuable core on a wand that didn't work properly. Lacci grinned. The wand was perfect, in her opinion. Perfect in every way. And she had told Edward that too. He was very pleased.   
  
Madame Malkin, wearing beautiful swishing emerald robes, called Lacci up to get her fitted. Lacci stuck the wand in her pocket and bounded up, and stuck her arms out like a scarecrow. Harry and Ron were watching other people getting fitted, one of whom was a small girl with her father. She was complaining loudly.   
  
"You know, we haven't heard from Hermione all summer," Ron said offhandedly, recalling the letter he wrote but never sent.   
  
"Yeah.. I wonder if we'll see her today?"   
  
"No, I don't think so. I mean, what are the chances of Hermione going to Diagon Alley on the exact same..." Ron stopped, and turned to look at the window. Harry did the same. Hermione was standing at the window, waving and smiling. Seconds later she was next to them, filling them in on her summer and asking why neither of them wrote to her. Harry pointed to Lacci and explained.   
  
"...And now we're getting all her school stuff, because she's been accepted to Hogwarts," he finished. Hermione looked at the girl, and then gave Harry and Ron and uneasy look. "You do know she went to Azkaban, right? She could be dangerous."   
  
Knowing Hermione had gotten the wrong idea, Harry and Ron both went into explaining how nice Lacci is, and how she doesn't *coughcough* have any really criminal tendancies and how she'd never do anything to harm anyone. Hermione still looked uncertain.   
  
"Harry, Ron, if she's from Azkaban, she could be mad. Of course she'd seem alright, for the most part. But special words could trigger things, or certain actions. You really should be careful. Didn't you see her picture in the Daily Prophet?" Hermione reached into her pocket and pulled out the paper Ron had shown Harry.   
  
"I've seen it already, I've shown it to Harry," Ron said. "I'm not saying she's no nutter, I'm just saying she's nothing we can't handle."   
  
Hermione was about to make a remark, but Harry spoke quietly. "Look Hermione, thank you for the warning. We'll keep an eye out, fi you like. But I really don't think she can be much harm. I mean, she's so young.."   
  
"Harry," Hermione said pointedly, but more quietly this time, "We don't know how long she's been in Azkaban. Hell, we don't know _why_ she was in Azkaban. Ok? I'm..." Hermione stopped, because Lacci had finished getting robed and was now leaning happily on Hermione's back, her arms wrapped around her shoulder's. "Haio, my name is Lacci De, who are you?"   
  
Lacci bent her head down so she could look Hermione in the eyes. Hermione nudged away from her. "I'm Hermione, Ron and Harry's friend."   
  
Lacci looked delighted. She gave Hermione a huge squeeze and sat down next to her. "You're Hermione? Hayee and Ron talked about you! I was wondering if I'd see you before I went to school. I'm going to get to go to school!! Isn't that neet? I get to go with everyone else, just like a big kid! Because I _am_ a big kid."   
  
_My gods,_ thought Hermione, _they were right. She doesn't just look young, she babbles like a 7 year old._ Hermione started to speak, but Lacci, seeing the Daily Prophet that Hermione was still holding, plucked it out of her hands and looked at it.   
  
"Ohh... what's this? A Noonspaper?" lacci sat and stared at it. Her picture Grinned up at her. Lacci's smile faded, but she didn't move. Finally, she stuck the paper in her pocket, and started grinning like usual again. "Where's God? Will Your parents get here soon, Ron? I can't wait to show God our house!"   
  
Ron, looking relieved that Lacci ahdn't done something really strange from looking at the paper, hardly noticed that she hadn't given it back to Hermione. "They should be here any moment. In fact..." Mr. and Mrs. Weasley stepped into the robes shop. Mr. Weasley smiled. "Well, we've got the whole group now, haven't we? Hello Hermione it's nice to see you again."   
  
"Hello Mr. Weasley," Hermione said politely.   
  
"Lacci, have you gotten everything? Got your wand?" Mrs. Weasley asked. But Lacci wasn't listening. Something had just hit her. She turned to Fred and George.   
  
"Hey!! Where did you come from?? You just appeared at the wand shop! I don't remember seeing you before that!" Fred and George smiled. One by one, Harry, Ron, Ginny, and finally Percy stared at them. They had been so caught up in the current events that they hadn't noticed Fred and George appear.   
  
"Well," said Fred, "That's the trade. Showing up where you're not expected. Just poofing out of nowhere."   
  
"Yeah," continued George, "It seems the money from our joke shop also can poof in and out of nowhere. When we went to buy new beaters bats, our five galleons was gone. We don't know what happened to it."   
  
Percy was about to speak, when the errant flick of a black and silver tail hit him in the mouth. The giant black cat strode silkily up to Fred ans George, and sat i front of them. he looked at Lacic. Lacci looked at Fred and George. Fred and George looked at God. Everyone else looked at God too, and Lacci spoke.   
  
"I took your galleons," she admitted, not sounding very sorry but not sounding mirthful either. "When Mr. Weazley was pairing us off. I didn't think you'd mind. I bought God with it." After getting the main bit out, she engaged in full-speed-explanation. "But he was so unhappy in that shop and he wasn't treated right there and people kept bringing him back to the store and I really love him and it's not like you _needed_ the money because I know you love me so I didn't think you'd mind and I'm very sorry if you're mad at me but I'm happy because I have God even though I had to give away Grubble."   
  
Lacci took a deep breath. Fred and George took all this in. "So..." Fred said slowly, "You took our money, and you bought this cat?" Lacci nodded.   
  
"Lacci, that was a really bad thing to do," Molly scolded, looking very disappointed in Lacci. "You shouldn't steal people's money, and you know that. I think it'll be up to Fred and George what we do with the cat. And you'll have to work off that money, and pay them back."   
  
Lacci looked up at twins, her eyes pleading them to let her keep the cat. She was biting her lip again. The two turned their backs and spoke for a moment, then turned back. George smiled faintly at Lacci. "Consider it a late birthday present, Lacci. You don't owe us anything."   
  
Lacci was so happy she jumped up and huged them both repeatedly, almost trodding on God's tail. "Danke danke danke danke danke!!!" She cried gleefully, so happy she managed three exclaimation points at the end of one sentence. Fred and George hugged her back, looking slightly pained at their descision, but glad Lacci was happy all the same.   
  
  
_*Chimaera: A Chimaera is a mythological creature, a fire breathing she-monster with the head of a lion, the body of a goat and a serpent's tail. Chimaera comes from greek khimaira, chimera, aka she-goat. Near the beginning Harry lied to the bus driver and said Lacci was Greek, keep that in mind._


	16. The Sorting

Time had passed. God spent most of his time at Ron's window, watching the activity outside. Lacci had thought he wanted to go outside, but he refused to go out the door. He seemed to just like to watch. The rest of the family was fine with this. The only difficult part to keeping the cat around was his food.   
  
God ate anything. He was an omnivore, for sure. He ate candy, lettuce, paper, salad dressing, cheese, he even's chewed on Fred's shoelace's. God had become Lacci's watch cat; he was extremely protective of her. As if she was his territory. He watched the Weasley family warily when they were around Lacci, and hissed at anyone he thought was harming her. He often stood guard by her bed at night, or slept across her legs.   
  
Harry had been greatly affected by this. He still felt the need to be brotherly to Lacci, and God prevented that. It seemed the cat mistrusted him more than anyone else. Harry had found himself getting the strangest ideas; that the cat didn't want Harry to take Lacci back, or that maybe the cat thought Harry had been mistreating Lacci. But those were stupid thoughts. Harry was always perfectly good to Lacci, and cats couldn't think like that. To Harry's knowledge, male cats didn't defend humans from other humans, especially if the human is caring for the defendee. But Lacci didn't seem to notice that Harry was having problems, and he didn't want to bring it up. The giant cat seemed to hear everything. He swore it was listening in at all times with it's fox-like ears.   
  
Currently, God was at the window, Percy was at work, Fred and George were in their room, Ginny was helping Mrs. Weasley make dinner, and Harry, Ron and Lacci were lounging in the living room.   
  
"Hey," Ron was saying, "You know, this is just like Me, Hermione and Harry, only with Lacci as the girl."   
  
"Yeah," Harry said, not sounding all that interested. He hadn't seen Hermione since Diagon Alley; as usual, her father had said she couldn't come to the Burrow. It had been a month, and school would be starting the next day. Mr. Weasley had wisely made them all pack their school things up the week before. But now things were lying about from kids rummaging through their stuff. Lacci was currently sitting in her cauldron. Harry had been quite amazed she could fit, despite her petite size.   
  
"Ooo, I em so exzited," Lacci said, in a strangely french accent, as she bounced. Ron laughed. "Why are you excited?"   
  
"I get to go to Hogwall's and see the Gryffindor Common Room, and Hagrid, and the classes, and the Great Hall, and all the other great things you told me about!"   
  
"Hogwart's," Harry corrected. He was smiling. He and Ron had filled her up with information about Hogwarts ever since her letter came. She had also read through the books a few times. She wanted to try a few of the spells, so Harry had to continually tell her she couldn't use magic yet. She had seemed very impatient, and Harry hoped Lacci didn't try to do it anyway and end up turning Mr. Weasley inside out or something. "I think Hagrid will love you, Lacci."   
  
Lacci Grinned, and Harry flinched. Ron, who didn't catch it, said, "Yeah, since you like animals so much. Hagrid's going to get a kick out of God. I mean, it's like, the size of a small wolf! Hagrid loves giant dangerous animals."   
  
Harry didn't say anything. He looked uneasy, and felt the same. He still felt like God was giving him his cat-like stare, even while God was on a different floor, staring out the window.   
  
"Oh, but he's not dangerous," Lacci protested, "He's mostly harmless. And he got his front claws removed."   
  
"Uh huh," Ron said disbelievingly, but dropped the subject.   
  
"I wonder if monkeys have eyebrows?" Lacci asked boredly, leaning out of her cauldron.   
  
"Eyebrows? I don't know. That would be something." Harry smiled, trying to picture a monkey with eyebrows.   
  
"If they did, they'd have made sweaters out of them already," Ron said matter-of-factly. "New: Sweaters made from the softest fabric in the world; introducing 100% Monkey Eyebrow SweatersTM, now available in a TAB near you!"   
  
"What's a tab?" Lacci asked curiously, this time knocking her cauldron over.   
  
"TAB. Terrence And Braughwal, the all-mighty store for cool wizard clothing." Ron looked shocked that Lacci didn't know, but then he remembered where she'd been for the past numerous years.   
  
"Oh, I remember TAB," Harry recalled, "you took me last summer, didn't you? That place is huge."   
  
"Yeah. Dad usually doesn't bring there unless it's a special occasion, when he gets lots of money. The clothing is really expensive."   
  
Lacci stood up out of her cauldron. "I'm going upstairs!" She shouted confidently, pointing to the ceiling. With that, she marched up the stairs.   
  
"Well..." said Ron, slightly amused, "That was fun."   
  
***   
  
_A thick mass of human minds; I can hardly tell them all apart. They are all red, one slightly purple. Only the master sticks out clearly. She is dark black. Only she stands out from the rest of her humans. Those fools, they don't know what they have with them. They treat her like a normal person. But with my help..._   
  
God's tail swished like a pendulum beneath the window, as he stared into the starry sky.   
  
_And here she comes now..._   
  
There was silence for a few moments, and then Ron's door burst open and Lacci danced through, playing a non-existant trombone. She flopped down on her bed, and was joined shortly afterwards by her cat, who seemed to be exactly the same size of her when she was lying down.   
  
"God," Lacci said, petting his long black and silver hair. "God, I'm finally being accepted! They don't get all edgy around me anymore. I think they like me now. Thank you so much God, you are my good luck charm..." Lacci buried her head into God's neck and wrapped her arms around his slim shoulders in a tight embrace. When she removed herself a little, she had a sad/happy smile on her face.   
  
"I've wanted for so long to be like them, to have them like me, and now I am! I speak their language, I act like them, I wear clothing like them, and tomorrow I'll be going away to their school, and I will be around Hayee Pohher all the time. I am so happy!"   
  
God looked down at his little master, his little pet. He wiped a tear from her eye with the side of his face.   
  
_She thinks she wants to conform, to be like normal people, but yet she cries. Why does she cry? Because she is losing bits of herself. She is losing the uniquity of Lacci, and she is losing it for Harry Potter. And yet he does not see it. He is just as blind as the other humans, and so she has put all of her trust into a cat. She used to be able to trust everyone. She trusted the goodness of mankind, and now she sees they do not like her for who she is, so she wants to change herself. Such childish dreams._   
  
Beside him, Lacci had fallen asleep, curled up next to his body warmth. Sitting straight as a stick and stiff as a brick, God sat watch over his precious property.   
  
***   
  
"FRED, GEORGE!! HURRY! WE'RE LATE!"   
  
Mrs. Weasley's voice boomed up the stairs as Ginny climbed them, muttering about leaving her book all the way upstairs. Downstairs it was a chaotic mess. The smaller people stayed out of the bigger people's way and the bigger people were romping around trying to get their stuff together. So went the first day of school.   
  
It took two hours to get to King's Cross Station, and when they finally piled out they were late. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley rushed them to their platform.   
  
Lacci held back, watching something strange. It was a man, in all black, with dark brown hair and a top hat. She tried to see his face, but it was hidden. If she leaned over past the newspaper rack just a little bit...   
  
"LACCI!!! LACCI, COME ON!! HURRY!!" The sound of Mrs. Weasley's rushed voice behind her made Lacci fall forward. The man jumped and looked down at her. She Grinned up at him, about to speak, when Mrs. Weasley helped her up.   
  
"Come now dear, we really haven't got time... you need to get across the barrier..." Lacci looked back for the man, but he was gone. She sighed, and skipped to catch up with the rest of the Weasleys.   
  
***   
  
On the train, Ron and Harry waved goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Wealsey. Percy had wanted to come, but understood there wouldn't be much room, small though Lacci was. Lacci stuck her face to the window.   
  
No sooner had the train began moving than the door to their compartment opened and Hermione stepped in.   
  
"I was wondering where you had gotten to," she said, smiling and sitting down next to Ron. Harry had begun staring off into space, as Lacci had called the window seat and diven into it before anyone could complain.   
  
Finally the subject no one had thought to brought up yet was brought up.   
  
"I wonder who the new Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher will be," Hermione asked.   
  
"You-Know-Who," Ron said, and everyone looked at him, "I'll bet your life on it."   
  
"That's just what I need," Harry said boredly. "Another teacher who favors Slytherins." Hermione and Ron laughed.   
  
"Who is Slytherins?" Lacci asked, fully interested. Harry and Ron looked at each other in shock.   
  
"We never told you what Slytherins are??" Ron asked incredulously. Lacci nodded.   
  
"Slytherins," Harry said, "Are the scum of the earth. They are power hungry people. You-Know-Who was a Slytherin. Not a wizard who's turned bad hasn't been in Slytherin. Slytherin is a Hogwarts House, like Gryffindor."   
  
"Oh Harry," Hermione said, shaking her head, "That's very mean of you. Slytherins aren't all that bad, they just aren't very nice. Some of them are very smart."   
  
"Oh, Right, Hermione," said Ron sarcastically, "Stick up for the Slytherins. 'Slytherins are actually wonderful people with great personalities and you'd like them if you only gave them a chance.'"   
  
Hermione's duffel bag hit Ron in the thigh. "Oops," she said mockingly, "The jerking of the train must have done that."   
  
Lacci and God sat at the window, looking out. Lacci continually waved at trees and large rocks.   
  
Lacci started mumbling something in another language. "Ik nooit wilde weten waar het was maar er het zijn en nu het weet ik niet hoe te om het te maken weggaan. oh mooi, u weet u me vervloekt om me verandering voor deze andere zo aan te brengen..."   
  
Everyone in the car turned to face Lacci. She rolled her head back and switched languages. "ÁíáñùôÞèçêá ðÜíôá üðïõ ôï øÜñé Þôáí, áëëÜ ôá øÜñéá, äåí îÝñåé. èá ìðïñïýóå íá åßíáé åßíáé åêåß Ýíá êåñß ëáìâÜíïíôáò õðüøç ôï ðáðïýôóé ìïõ?" Her eyes rolled back into her head and a Grin sprouted on her face, looking stranger when her pupils weren't visible. Her neck was at a funny angle. "und dann kommt es wieder WHO SIE DENKT mich IST, WENN SIE HEY GEGANGEN WERDEN??" She lowered her head, her eyes still back in her head and her Grin still twisted. She shot her gaze towards Harry.   
  
"zu Ihnen... Und zum chyuange von Vorteilen zu Ihnen... Und zum tyue von shorld Sie geben... Und zum bechome Gesicht tyuem von Vorteilen zu Ihnen... Und gewendet an tyue der Sterne von herum von Vorteilen zu Ihnen..."   
  
Lacci had backed Harry up into the corner. Hermione looked extremely frightened and was holding Ron back. Harry's eyes were wide and he made no noise as Lacci's small face came nose to nose with his. He stared into her pupil-less eyes. Her Grin seemed to get harder. Images of blood and death, a child having his eyes burned out with sharped spoons...   
  
Lacci's eyes rolled back into place. She fell on top of Harry, who flinched. Harry started breathing hard, trying to catch his breath.   
  
"WHAT THE _HELL_ WAS THAT??" Ron cried, jumping to his feet. He pulled Harry out from under Lacci, who had apparently become unconscious. There was blood dribbling from her eyes. Hermione hugged Harry. Harry just stared at the fallen figure.   
  
***   
  
"I... I have no clue," Harry confessed to his friends later. An attendant had been called in, and after some reccomendations, Lacci had been put into her jacket and brought to the front. Now other students were staring curiously into the apartment. "She's never been like that, that I know of..."   
  
God was sitting in Lacci's seat, looking extremely smug. Harry was coming to loath that cat. He turned to Hermione, who looked deathly serious.   
  
"Harry, I told you she could be trouble. We don't have any idea what she would have done if she hadn't fainted. You were very lucky. What are you going to do with her? I really don't think..."   
  
Hermione was interrupted by the car door opening. Draco Malfoy and his two bodyguards stepped in, looking as thought their birthday had come early.   
  
"Hey Potter, I heard your new girlfriend just tried to kill you." Malfoy sneered. "What a pity. You can't trust anyone, can you Potter?"   
  
Much to everyone's surprise, Harry just said cooly, "At least I _have_ a girlfriend, Malfoy."   
  
Draco didn't seem to have a response for this. Hiding his shock, he turned around and stormed out of the room. "C'mon Crabble, Goyle." His sidekicks obediently followed him out.   
  
Ron laughed. "Your girlfriend? Well, I suppose if it gets rid of Malfoy..."   
  
There was a blood-curdling shriek from the front of the train, and the sound of someone climbing over obstacles to reach a close destination. Harry shut his eyes, hoping it would go away, but 10 seconds later Lacci had thrown open the door to their compartment and had fallen into Harry. She was apologizing like mad, in at least 7 distinguishable languages.   
  
Harry patted the frantic girl on the back. "It's ok... I forgive you." He forced a smile.   
  
Lacci looked up, tears in her eyes. "You.. you forgive me? But I stole from you!!"   
  
Harry's smile faultered a little. She had stolen from him? She wasn't apologizing for scaring him to death?? Ron and Hermione looked quizzical. "What do you mean, Lacci?" Harry asked.   
  
Lacci spent a constructive 15 seconds pulling at the cuffs of her straight jacket until her hands were completely through the long sleeves, and then pulled Harry's wand from a pocket. She held it up to him.   
  
"I don't know why I took it. I didn't mean to... I'm so sorry."   
  
Harry plucked his wand from her hand and looked at it. How had she gotten his wand? Small wonder, he supposed, she had gotten him so scared he wouldn't have noticed had she stripped him naked. Well, he might have noticed _that_...   
  
"I forgive you Lacci. Of course I do. You don't need to feel so sorry for that." Harry began to wonder if Lacci remembered what she had done at all. Lacci settled down by her cat and an uneasy conversation began again.   
  
"Now I really have to wonder who the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is," Ron said, with a meaningful glance towards Lacci. She had began looking out the window again, but there was no sign that she was mumbling at all. God had fallen asleep at her feet.   
  
"Well," Hermione said, "we'll find out in a few hours. Excuse me, I'm going to go change into my Hogwarts robes." Ron moved his legs and Hermione climbed out of the compartment. Harry looked at Ron and they both looked at Lacci, who didn't seem to notice the attention. Harry shrugged.   
  
***   
  
The ride was longer and more boring than usual, with the exception of Lacci's previous attack. She fell asleep on Harry's lap halfway through the trip, much to his embarassment. Finally the train slowed, and students started climbing out of their compartment. Harry shook Lacci awake. "Get up Lacci, we're here. We're at Hogwarts. C'mon Lacci, get up..."   
  
Lacci rolled over and opened her eyes. "Hoglebats?" She asked sleepily. Harry nodded. God climbed up onto the seat and left the compartment, so Lacci followed suit. Harry sighed and made his way off the train.   
  
"Firs' years!! Firs' years over here!!" Harry reconized Hagrid's voice over the thick fog. He waved.   
  
"Hey Harry, all right?" Hagrid smiled, barely visible through the fog. Harry pointed at Hagrid. "Lacci, you go that way. Follow Hagrid. We'll see you in a little bit." He gave an encouraging smile, and Lacci nodded. She skipped off after Hagrid. "Bii baaaiii!" She called behind her.   
  
"Hey Harry, come on!" Ron grabbed Harry's arm. Harry watched until Lacci was out of sight, and then followed Ron and Hermione up to the coaches.   
  
***   
  
"Ok ev'ryone, four people to a boat, an' try not to fall out! C'mon now!"   
  
Hagrid began ushering the first years into a fleet of boats. Lacci ran up to Hagrid and hugged him.   
  
Hagrid laughed. "Well well, wass' all this, then? You're one o' Harry's friends, aint'cha?"   
  
Lacci nodded. "My name is Lacci De!"   
  
"Well Lacci, You get into this boat, here, there ya go--" Hagrid lifted Lacci into a boat. Lacci looked at the other three students already in the boat; a a boy so blonde it hurt the eyes, a short girl, and a chubby boy with sandy hair. She was about to make conversation when the girl spoke.   
  
"Hey, look!" Lacci's eye's followed the boy's finger. In the water next to their boat was a giant tentical. It waivered. Lacci reached out to touch it, when the boat started moving. She fell back and squeeked.   
  
The small fleet of boats sailed ahead, apparently by magic. They were moving closer to a most fabulous sight; the first years were speechless. Appearing through the fog was a giant castle, speckled with glowing dots-- torches in the windows. It wasn't long before they were across the lake and in front of a cliff with a blanket of ivy covering it. The ivy magically brushed aside, showing the entrance to a great cavern. There was a chorus of "oo's" and "ah's". The blonde boy, Lacci noticed, snorted amusedly.   
  
Lacci turned back to see the ivy lowering back in front of the entrance into the cliff. Fog was seeping past it in thin wisps.   
  
There was a slight thud as the boats hit the landing. Lacci looked over the edge at a stone floor. Other students began climbing out of the boat, so Lacci copied them.   
  
"Follow me," Hagrid told the group, and he headed up a flight of steps. "I hope we get out of this cold soon," the blonde boy murmured. Lacci nodded in agreement; it was freezing.   
  
Moments later, Lacci stood huddled in a mass of students in black robes. She felt really silly wearing hers, but was smiling all the same. She figured she was the oldest one in the group, being 13, but she looked the same age as everyone else. A tall boy with a long face and black hair pushed past her, so he could stand in the front of the group and see what was going on. A strict looking woman was standing at the top of the steps. "Follow me," she said. The students lurched forward, climbing the steps after her. Lacci felt that phrase had been rather over-used today.   
  
Lacci studied the other students as they entered the castle. They were of all sizes and colors, but were all wearing the exact same thing. Lacci smiled, and sidled into a space in the crowd where there was more room to breathe. She could feel the nervousness radiating from the other students.   
  
Lacci herself was extremely nervous. She smiled to cover it. Where was Harry? Where was her cat?   
  
Suddenly the group stopped. Lacci bumped into the girl ahead of her, who looked back apolegetically before returning her attention to the woman in front. Realizing the woman was talking, Lacci leaned forward to listen.   
  
"...Sorting Ceremony, and then you will be seated at your new table. Your house will be your family. Your acheivements will win you points, and any rule breaking will lose your house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points wins the House Cup, which is a high honor for their house."   
  
Lacci raised her hand. The woman, aparently introduced as Professor Mcgonagal, looked at her, surprised. "Yes?"   
  
"Where's God? Where's my stuff?"   
  
The group of students turned and stared at her. A few reconized her from the Daily Prophet and backed away a few inches. Mcgonagal, obviously at a loss for a good answer, said, "I'm sure I don't know. If you had been listening, you would have heard me telling everyone else that your belongings are going to be brought to your rooms during the feast."   
  
Lacci shut up. That answer had been good enough for her. She looked around at the other kids, some of who were stifling laughter. She giggled. Luckily, Mcgonagal didn't notice, because just then they were called out into the hall. In a single-file line, the students followed the professor into the Great Hall.   
  
The room was amazing. It was giant. There were four tables, with older students at them. Lacci spotted Harry and the Weasleys, and waved. They waved back. Just then Lacci looked up. She nearly fell backward. The ceiling looked like the sky above it; Lacci expected the rain that was storming down onto the roof to be hitting her, but it didn't. It was one of the most fascinating things she had ever seen.   
  
Unfortunately, this was interuppted by a hat. An old hat, sitting on a stool. It was singing. Lacci giggled. She paid special attention as it described the houses. She caught the word "Gryffindor", which she understood was the house Harry was in. She bit her lip and hoped she was in Gryffindor, with her friends.   
  
Suddenly an idea struck her. Sorting Ceremony? Did that mean they had to sort something? Lacci was good at sorting. She often took out the clothing in Ron's dresser and set it out according to shape, size, pattern, feel, and by how much Lacci liked it. What would they be sorting? Or perhaps they would have to sing a duet with the funny looking hat. She wondered if whatever it was they had to do would hurt.   
  
The hat stopped singing, and Mcgonagal explained to the first years that she would call them up, and they would sit on the stool and put the hat on. _Put the hat on what?_ Lacci wondered. However, it seemed to be simpler that she had imagined. The woman called up DeHaan, Kiwi, and a small petite girl with long blonde hair in ribbons, pretty little shoes, very nice black robes and big purple eyes came up and sat on the stool. Mcgonagal put the hat on the girl's head, and it sank down to her nose. There was silence for a few moments, then the hat shouted, "HUFFLEPUFF!!" A table off to the left began clapping, and Kiwi, shaking from the surprise, walked off and joined her table.   
  
Diggory, Elijah was called up, and a few people leaned over to look at him. Mcgonagal gave him a sympathetic nod, and he sat down. The hat covered his face, and a moment later he was seated at the Gryffindor table, where a few people shook his hand and patted him kindly on the back. Lacci wondered why everyone was acting so sad for him.   
  
When Malfoy, Vladimir was called, the blonde boy from Lacci's boat stood up and sat down on the stool. He smiled and winked at the table to the far right, and the hat was set on his head. It was also immediately lifted off. He strode off to the Slytherin table.   
  
There were many kids sorted, among them: Murphy, Trent was put in Ravenclaw, Roberts, Evan was put in Gryffindor, Stevens, Michael was put in Ravenclaw, Tanschuldig, Schnink (Mcgonagal tripped over his name) was sorted into Slytherin, Trevling, Sean was put in Gryffindor, Underwing, Threndle was put into Gryffindor, and Watson, Electra was put into Hufflepuff. Finally, Mcgonagal called up, "Vrij, Lacci De."   
  
Lacci bounced up, grinning. She was the last student, it appeared. She could sense all the odd looks from the tables, and took it as a compliment. She sat down on the chair, and the hat was place on her head. Because she was so small, it covered her entire face. She could hear a few muffled laughs.   
  
"Well well now, let's see.." said a voice in her ear. Lacci jumped.   
  
"Hi there, my name is Lacci De, what's yours?"   
  
The hat chuckled. "I know your name. I can read your mind. I am the Sorting Hat. I know what to put you in.."   
  
Before he could shout out her house, Lacci spoke. "Well Mister Sort Hat, have you got a real name, or do your friends just call you Sorty?"   
  
From the outside, it appeared the hat was having trouble deciding where to put her. Since Lacci was talking through her mouth, the room could hear every muffled word. There was the snorting sound of half a hall trying not to laugh.   
  
"I don't have any friends. But I suppose you can call me that." There was a slight tone of dislike in his voice. "Your mind is very confusing. There's so much in here. You should definately be in.."   
  
"Well, maybe not Sorty then, eh? I'm call you... Brian."   
  
"SLYTHERIN!!" The hat roared, so the whole room could hear. To his relief, he was removed from Lacci's head, and Lacci looked astounded. So did Harry. Lacci turned back to the hat. "Slytherin?? Why Slytherin? I want to be with my other friends!" Mcgonagal ushed Lacci off to the Slytherin table, where they were clapping and laughing. The hat, although silent, appeared to be very sure of his descision. Lacci looked helplessly over at Harry, who shrugged. She turned to the girl next to her, about to speak, when the voice of an old man spoke up. Everyone hushed, so Lacci did the same.   
  
A man of average height was standing up in front of the teacher's table. A beard of more than average length was attached to his face. He had very knowing eyes, and wore dark blue robes. He looked like the wise old grandfather who knows not only all the family secrets, but the answers to everything, and only lets on with little hints. The kind of person who winked alot. He had a kind, soothing voice, like the brown leather of an antique armchair. Lacci listened in fascination as he welcomed everyone to Hogwarts, reminded them not to go into the Forbidden Forest, told them when Quidditch matches would be starting, reminded them not to be out past bedtime, and to enjoy the year. As he sat down, Lacci's eyes drifted past him and looked at the rest of the teachers. She reconized Mcgonagal, and the large huggable man in the moleskin coat. She wondered who the others were.   
  
Lacci was so occupied with the teacher's table, that she didn't notice the food appear on her plate. The girl next to her nudged her in the shoulder, and Lacci looked down. "Oh, danke!" She said, picking up a fork. She looked at the girl.   
  
The girl was tall and sturdily built, like a muggle football player. She ahd long dark brown hair, and vicious looking grey eyes. "My name is Lacci, what's yours?"   
  
The girl stopped in her eating and looked down at Lacci. "My name," she said carefully, as if making sure Lacci understood, "Is Elskling. But you may call me Ling, everyone else does."   
  
Lacci looked absolutely delighted by this. Ling didn't notice, as she had returned to her food. "I've heard about you!! I met Gian on the bus, on my way to the Weasley's house! He said to say hi to you if I met you."   
  
Ling's eyes widened. "Shhhh," she hissed, hoping no one had heard Lacci. Lacci, extremely confused, asked, "Why shhh? Don't you like having Gian as your brother? He's terribly nice." Ling gave Lacci a look that very clearly stated that she didn't. "Look, just don't mention my family. Ever." She spoke of her family as though they were the scum of the earth, and that if anyone in the school knew she was related to muggles, she would have to kill herself in embarrassment.   
  
Lacci nodded slowly. "Alright... but he's still uber nice." She went back to her food. There was everything she could ever hope to eat... and plenty more where it came from. Lacci hadn't imagined it possible, but this meal was better than what she had had at the Weasleys'.   
  
While the Slytherins talked and chatted around her, Lacci took everything in with her eyes. The Slytherins looked an unpleasant bunch. Lacci thought they all looked like fun people, which really said something for her judgement. Most of the Slytherins were extremely gothic and irritable. Lacci noticed the boy who had just been sorted-- Vladimir Malfoy. He was halfway down the table with a group of boys. An older boy, by the resemblance Lacci could only assume it was his brother, was talking, and the other Slytherins were sniggering. Vladimir lifted his head above the table next to them, so he could see the Gryffindor table. The older boy pointed, and Vladimir laughed out loud and sat back down. Lacci looked at where the boy had pointed.   
  
Harry waved, and mouthed something Lacci couldn't understand. She smiled and waved back. Fred stood halfway out of his seat, pointed at the Slytherin table, and covered his mouth is shock. He pretended to faint, and George caught him. They started to laugh, but quieted down slightly as they became aware of Mcgonagal's stare.   
  
The feast seemed to go on forever. Lacci's appetite didn't, so she decided to strike up a conversation with the boy across the table. He looked like he was in his second or third year at Hogwarts. He had long Weasley-colored hair, ebony eyes, sallow skin and a tad of chubbiness to him. He too appeared to have finished eating, and was reading a recent edition of the Daily Prophet. Lacci looked at the cover. It had a picture of a woman holding what looked like a giant green baby by the leaves sprouting from it's head. Lacci reconized it as a Mandrake; she had read about them in one of the books. The woman was wearing earmuffs and the baby was trying to get away from her grasp. The headline said, "Giant Mandrake Baby in Nebraska."   
  
The boy appeared to notice Lacci watching him. "What?" he asked, his voice soundign high and somehow menacing. "I'm Lacci!" said Lacci cheerfully. The boy looked at her sardonically for a moment and then, in a moment of recognition, reached his hand across the table and shook hers. "My name is Dani. Pleased to meet you, Miss Vrij." He smiled. Not a kind, warming smile, but the smile of someone who found a great opportunity and wasn't going to pass it up.   
  
"How long have you been at Hogwarts? Does this feast ever end?"   
  
"I've been here three years." Dani chuckled a bit. "The feast should be over in about ten minutes, don't worry. Then we can go back down to our common room."   
  
"Do I have to go back to the Slytherin common room?" Lacci glanced back at Harry for a second. He was in a deep conversation with Fred.   
  
"Of course. Which common room would you rather go back to?" Dani didn't seem to notice Lacci's glance towards the Gryffindors. "Granted, the other common rooms are probably nicer than our's. Our's is in the dungeon, so it's often cold and damp. But I don't mind, I love the cold."   
  
Lacci nodded, assuming that as long as you nodded, people would think you understood. It appeared to be good enough for Dani. The food on their plates disappeared, Dani put his Prophet in his pocket, and the Prefects led the students back to their common rooms. Lacci passed Harry on her way to her own common room. She turned and followed him, but he directed her back towards the Slytherins.   
  
"You've got to go with them, but don't worry, I'll see you tomorrow," Harry said reassuringly, and Lacci drifted back into the group of Slytherins, as they marched down a staircase to the dungeons.   
  
  
**I am eating my food!! reeeeview... I demand reeeviieeewwss....**


	17. The First Day of School

"Slytherin! She's in _Slytherin_!!"   
  
"Yes Harry," Hermione said, trying to sound comforting (although not really knowing how to be in this situation). "She's in Slytherin. I'm sure you should have seen it coming."   
  
Harry, looking extremely disgruntled, flopped back into his chair by the Gryffindor Common room fireplace. "And why should I have seen it coming, Hermione?"   
  
Hermione looked uncomfortable. Harry sounded accusing, as though he blamed Hermione for Lacci being a Slytherin. "Well, I mean, she _was_ in Azkaban, and you remember what she was like on the train..."   
  
Harry sighed. "I know. But I don't want to accept it. Lacci's a good person."   
  
"Well," Ron conceded, "Being Slytherin doesn't nescissarily make her bad, does it? Rememeber what Hermione said, 'Not all Slytherins are bad.' Maybe she'll be the pick of the litter."   
  
"Yes," harry admitted, "That's true. But what about what happened on the train? What if there's some part of her we don't know about, and the Sorting Hat saw it? I just don't want to accept that."   
  
"Harry, don't forget. She was a criminal --we don't know why-- and she's probably still dangerous. I think she's proved that. We might have to go to Dumbledore--"   
  
Harry turned and snapped on Hermione. "Go to Dumbledore? And tell him _what_, exactly? 'Excuse me Dumbedore, but my thirteen year old friend was sorted into Slytherin so I think there's something wrong with her, by the way she's been released from Azkaban and she tried to kill the Dursleys in their home and me on the train to Hogwarts.' Hermione, there's no point. Lacci could be cured, and we'd only be sending her back to the most awful place in the world."   
  
Hermione slunk back into her seat a little. Harry normally didn't get so crabby, and this wasn't even something to lose one's temper about. "Harry-- are you afraid Lacci won't like you anymore because she's in Slytherin?"   
  
Harry was silent for a moment.   
  
"I'm afraid..." he began. "I'm afraid that being around these other Slytherins might bring out a part of Lacci that none of us like, possibly a more dangerous Lacci. Yes, I'm afraid that it'll turn her against me. And that's all I need, isn't it? One more enemy."   
  
"Don't worry about that," Ron said soothingly, "You saw how she worshipped you. You're her idol, Harry. I don't think she can turn against you, regardless of what she did on the train."   
  
"Of course, he's right you know," came a cheery voice as Fred appeared on the left side of Harry's chair.   
  
"We trained her well. She knows The Ways, she's wouldn't turn back after all that." George appeared on the right side.   
  
Harry swatted at Fred and George, but not in a mean way. "Do you have to get your noses in everything?"   
  
"Yep. Nosey Extraordinaire!" Fred bowed, and George followed suit. They began dancing to their theme song, which was singing the words "fred and george and fred and george and" to the british national anthem.   
  
***   
  
The Slytherin common room was in the dungeons. It was fairly cold, and there were green and silver rugs on the damp stone floor. There were tapestries that seemed to loom on the cold stone walls. There were armchairs and sofas, all with clawed feet. The tables were stained black wood. There was a green fire in the fireplace, crackling brightly. Lacci ran up the girls' stairs (following the prefect's orders) and into the room labelled "First Years".   
  
There were four four-poster beds in here. Lacci found her things on the farthest bed from the door. God was lying lazily across her pillows. She hugged him. "It's not as cold in this room as it is in the big room. Did you have a fun trip?" God nodded boredly, and turned his head to watch the other first year females enter the room.   
  
First was a thin girl with white dreadlocks that came down to about her shoulders. Her two front dreadlocks were both purple. She was wearing very egyptian makeup.   
  
"Haio, 'M Lacci De, who are you?" Lacci stuck out her hand. The girl looked at her, shrugged, and then said (in a deep, bored, surprisingly american voice), "My name is Lara. Lara Brunner." Lara went over to the bed next to Lacci's and sat down. There was a cage with a shiny black rat in it sitting on the bed. Lara let it out.   
  
Next came a tall girl with freckles and shaggy brown hair. She had a face like a frying pan, and it looked as though whoever had built her used too many muscles in all the wrong places. She introduced herself as Leatha Knackerman. Lacci giggled.   
  
"Knackerman?"   
  
Leatha shot her a cold look. "Yes." Lacci shrugged it off.   
  
The next two came together. They were both tall, and so thin they could have been anorexic. They had dirty brown hair, well defined jawbones and blue eyes. They looked exactly the same, except one's head was slightly longer than the other's. She spoke first.   
  
"My name is Alison Debbink, and this is my twin, Amber."   
  
Twins? Lacci thought of Fred and George. They had told her that they were unique. She shrugged, figuring the Weasley twins had lied. They often did. They took beds opposite each other, Amber closer to Lacci and Alison right next to the door.   
  
Unpacking her books, Lacci noticed that Lara had quite a few extra books, most of them covered in runes and all of them old and frayed. She pointed to a small one, the leather cover dyed blood red and the gold grecian lettering fading. "Hey Lara.. what's this book?"   
  
Lara gave a twisted smile. "A book my father gave me. It's got things in it you are too weak to understand."   
  
"Oh," Lacci said, losing interest. "I thought it was something interesting. Because the cover says 'The Summoning and Banishing of the 6 Earthly Demons'." Lacci went back to putting her robes into drawers and setting her books out. Lara gave her a strange look and went back to her things.   
  
As Lacci unpacked, something papery fell out of her pocket. She picked it up and stared at it. Her very own face, months and months ago, Grinned up at her. Lacci read the passage below it once more. Her grip tightened a little on the paper, and then relaxed. She put it back into her pocket and set 1001 Magical Herbs and Fungi on top of her other books.   
  
***   
  
The next day, Lacci awoke to being thrown off her bed. One of the twins was looking down at her. After a moment, Lacci reconized her as Amber. Amber kicked her lightly in the butt.   
  
"For the fourth time, egt up! Do you want to be late for Defense Against the Dark Arts?"   
  
Lacci shot up off the floor and grabbed her books. She didn't want to miss any of her classes. "Lessgo," Lacci said hurriedly, and they rushed out the door, through the common room, and out the portrait hole ("fine, leave me open why don't you, so _anyone_ can come in and look around!").   
  
Amber and Lacci just barely made it to their class, after being directly wrongly twice by the local poltergiest, Peeves. Lacci sat down between Vladimir and the DeHaan girl. She relaxed, now that she knew she wasn't late.   
  
After a few moments, whispers began to break out. Their teacher wasn't there yet. Kiwi turned fearfully to Lacci. "What if our teacher is _dead_?"   
  
Vladimir scoffed. "If he was _dead_, they'd just find a relacement. Someone worthwhile, like Snape."   
  
"Snape?" Lacci asked. She had heard Snape didn't like Harry, Ron and Hermione. Certainly Vladimir couldn't think someone like that would be worthwhile?   
  
Finally, a girl appeared in the doorway. She appeared to be about 16 or 17 years old. She smiled. "I'm afraid your DADA teacher can't make it today. I'll be filling in for him. My name is Professor Ubel Severo En Haut Tendu Chiffon Feiticeira Madula Madona Onde Fullstendig Von Crackawitz, but you can call me Ubel. Any questions before we begin class? You're all new, and I see a few confused faces."   
  
Lacci smiled. From what she had heard, a female had never taught DADA, much less a teenaged one. Vlad looked outraged. He put his hand up.   
  
"Mister Malfoy, is it? I knew your father once, he looked just like you. What's your question?"   
  
Vlad looked doubtful. "_Well_, I'm sure I'm not the only one who's noticed that you're nothing but a 7th year. How can _you_ teach us against the Dark Arts?"   
  
Kiwi looked frightened for Vladimir's life, talking to a teacher like that, but Ubel just smiled. "I'm not a 7th year student, Vlad. I'm actually twice your parents' age. I used to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher long ago, and I taught it to them. When I was in my 7th year, a boy put a curse on me, as a joke. It was a curse to keep me looking as I do now for the rest of my life. The headmistress at the time offered to remove it, but I decided I'd rather look young and innocent all my life, instead of growing old and wrinkly, like he did."   
  
A girl in the back raised her hand. "Yes, Waston?"   
  
"Miss Ubel, people say that there's a curse on the Defense Agianst the Dark Arts job. Did you last only one year, like everyone else?"   
  
Ubel shook her head. "I hadn't heard that. No, I taught for about 7 years before I got sick of the ridicule. That curse must be past my time. I'm been working as a substitute teacher ever since then."   
  
Lacci rasied her hand. Ubel called on her. "Who was the boy?" Lacci asked.   
  
Ubel laughed. "I daresay he's someone you've seen before. I wont tell you who he is, though. You'll have to ask him for yourself. Any more questions?"   
  
There were no more questions. But Vlad leaned oer and whispered to Lacci out of the corner of his mouth, "She says she wont tell us who he is, but we've got to ask him ourselves. Hah."   
  
The lesson turned out to be fairly productive, although Vladimir constantly bickered about the teacher and Kiwi kept worrying about doing things wrong. Lacci had come to like Ubel. She was nice and patient. Lacci was beaming with pride by the end of the period. She had earned Slytherin 20 points! When Ubel dismissed them, the class rushed out of the room and to their next classes. Lacci looked at her list.   
  
"Our next class is History of Magic, with the Gryffindors. That figures." Vladimir had appeared behind Lacci, and was reading his list aloud. For the first time, he looked directly at her. "Well, let's go." He walked quickly down the hall. Lacci skipped to catch up.   
  
***   
  
Harry's schedule led him to Divination first. He and Ron found poufs next to the same table and sat down. Professor Trelawney appeared moments later, the red light of the covered lamps making her seem much younger than she actually was. She looked mournfully at Harry. "There is a phantom around you, my dear, I sense it. Do be careful."   
  
She turned to the rest of the class. "For the next two weeks we will be learning about Angels and Time Management. Please turn to page 493. Oh, and Neville dear, you might want to use the Diffindo charm to unstick pages 493 and 494. They are covered in jam." Neville groaned loudly and Parvarti helped him unstick his book.   
  
This class period seemed to be worse than the normal Divination classes. Trelawney Actually tripped over a sentence as she stared at Harry, and when she walked past him she'd whisper things like, "Beware the one that shadows you" and "there is a dark force after you". Harry nearly snapped at her when she asked him to pass out booklets 'because he might not be around long enough to do it later'. He was very relieved when he escaped. Next Gryffindor had Herbology with Ravenclaw, so he headed out to the greenhouses.   
  
***   
  
Lacci sat through History of Magic, Herbology, and Transfiguration with the rest of the Slytherins. She became fairly good friends with Vladimir and Amber. At least, Slytherin definition of friends. They were certainly the most co-operative with her, but Vladimir had a superior air around him and made faces when Lacci said she didn't understand or when she just smiled boredly into space. Amber turned out to be extremely foul-mouthed, and insulted Lacci to her face. Lacci didn't mind either of these habits, but they certainly weren't as nice as Harry and Ron.   
  
It was break, and Lacci excused herself from her new friends and ran to find the courtyard, where she was sure her Gryffindor friends were. As she was running over the bridge that was built over the small stream, she ran into someone and knocked them off the side. "WAAAAIII!!!" Lacci looked nervously over the edge of the bridge.   
  
A boy with rosy cheeks and short brown hair looked up with a grimace on his face. "Oooowwww..." Lacci reached down in an offer to pull him up. The boy grasped her hand and shook it. "My name is Tentwol Wiggleby, what's yours? Pleased to meet yo-- _ow_ my bum..."   
  
"Lacci De Vrij," Lacci said promptly. The boy climbed out of the stream and got back in the bridge. "Well Lacci," he said with a soft smile, "It's a pleasure meeting you, even in such wet circumstances. Why were you running?"   
  
Lacci cocked her head to the side slightly and then said, "I'm looking for Hayee Pohher, Ron Weazley and Hermione Granger. Have you seen them?"   
  
Tentwol shook a pebble from his sleeve. "Actually yes, I have seen them. They were walking down the corridor you just came from, going... left, I believe." He looked her over. "You're that girl from the wizarding newspaper, aren't you? I'm sure I've seen your face before."   
  
Lacci got slightly tense. She bit her lip and then stood up (she had been sitting on the side of the bridge). "Yes I gotta go catch up with them now bye bye." Lacci felt it was a slightly hurried reply, but h well. She gave Tentwol a quick smile and then turned on her heel and sped off the way she came.   
  
Tentwol shrugged. "So you don't want to stay and chat, then?" He asked the empty space. Lacci was already gone down the corridor. He shrugged, sighed, and sat back down in the bridge.   
  
***   
  
"I wonder how Lacci's managing her first day of school? I mean, I hope she isn't have a nervous breakdown or anything. Slytherin is a tough house." Harry rearranged the books he was holding so he could stretch one arm and then the other.   
  
Hermione shrugged. "How did you do on your first day? I'm sure she'll be fine. Who knows, she might even make friends in Slytherin. Like I said, they aren't _all_ bad."   
  
"What class have we got after break?" Ron interrupted.   
  
Harry looked at his classes sheet, but Hermione was already responding. "Defense Against The Dark Arts. Now we can finally find out who the tea--" Hermione fell over.   
  
Dumbfounded, Harry and Ron stopped and stared at her.   
  
"Hermione," Ron said, sounding shocked, "You fell over."   
  
"I know that," she snapped. "I was pushed. Help me up, will you?"   
  
"Sorry Hermione, I didn't see where I-- Hermione! Hayee! Ron! Oh, I found you!" Lacci stood up and pulled Hermione to her feet. She gave Harry a hug. "I've had the most wonderful day, Hayee! Do I have any classes with you?"   
  
Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged glances. "Lacci," Harry said politely, pulling her arms off his neck, "You're a first year and I'm a fifth year. We don't have _any_ classes together." Lacci looked disappointed. "But," Harry added, "We do have lunch after this next class. I'll ask McGonagall if you can sit with us."   
  
This seemed to be good enough for Lacci. She nodded. She somehow felt she could manage not sitting with her Slytherin friends for a lunch period.   
  
Lacci opened her mouth to say something, but forgot for a moment what she wanted to say. "Uuhhh--oh yes, Dark Arts teacher. There isn't one, he's not in today. There's a 6th year filling in."   
  
Lacci recieved three equally confused looks. "6th year? Why a 6th year?"   
  
She shrugged. "Says she's been a subbytute for years. But she's really fun."   
  
Harry waved it off. "Well, we'll find out for ourselves soon enough."   
  
Lacci nodded and, out of the corner of her eye, spotted God walking across the lawn. Lacci squinted to see where he was going. A tall black figure was standing at the opposite end of the feild. Lacci shook her head and focused in Harry. Anything God thought was important enough to go around doing was fine by Lacci. The cat never did much else. She looked back just to make sure she had actually seen him. There was no cat, and no figure in the distance. _Must have imagined it then,_ she thought dismissively. She looked up at Harry and forgot all about everything but him.   
  
***   
  
Snape towered before his first years class. Lacci sat between Vladimir and Amber in the front row. Unlike everyone else, Lacci didn't look up at Snape. She instead stared at his feet. Lacci had learned, from her overall life experiance, that you never look your superiors in the eyes. And there was something about Snape; she felt uncomfortable looking at him at all. He reminded her of someone.   
  
Snape seemed to notice this.   
  
"Miss Vrij," he said irritably, "is there something wrong with your eyes? My feet can't possibly be more interesting than the lesson, can it?"   
  
Lacci shook her head, still staring downwards. "I-I'm sorry Professor. I am paying attention, but I can't look at you."   
  
Snape looked slightly offended. "Certainly I'm not that hideous of a sight. Look up please, so I know you are paying attention."   
  
Lacci tense her neck a little. "I'm not allowed," she said desperately, hoping he would understand. "Not allowed."   
  
Snape sighed exasperatingly. He normally didn't have this much trouble with students of his own house. "I'm _sorry_ Miss Vrij, but you're going to have to look up. You are granted permission to look up."   
  
Lacci bit her lip and lifted her head up. Her gaze locked with Snape's, and she bit harder. Now he looked even more like someone she knew. She didn't want to look at him. It hurt.   
  
By now the entire class was watching her in interest. Snape was extremely annoyed by the performance, but let it go. "Now, if you would all pay attention to the board again..." Lacci kept her head up, her teeth firmly fastened to her bottom lip, which was slightly swollen.   
  
***   
  
McGonagall had agreed to let Lacci sit at the Gryffindor table, and all was joyious. Lacci told her friends she wouldn't be sitting with them ("yeah" "whatever" "ok then") and had found the Gryffindor table almost immediately afterwards. One or two Gryffindors seemed uncomfortable having Lacci at their table, but made no comment.   
  
"Lacci," Harry said conversationally, "How's your first day been? Any trouble at all?"   
  
Lacci thought about the Potions lesson, and decided not to mention it. "Well, I did get up late. Amber had to kick me awake, and then we were almost late for Defense Against The Dark Arts."   
  
Harry was fairly surprised. He was secretly hoping that Lacci had been horribly put down by the Slytherins and that she would be resorted into Gryffindor, or even Hufflepuff. Now that he thought about it, she was extremely Hufflepufflish. He didn't want to think about the reasons why she might have been sorted into Slytherin.   
  
"You forgot this," a drawling voice said behind Harry. He turned around and came face to face with Draco, who looked xtremely strange. Shorter, for one. But Draco wasn't looking at Harry, he was holing a piece of paper out to Lacci. Harry looked to Ron and Hermione, who shrugged. Lacci hadn't become friends with Draco Malfoy, had she?   
  
Lacci's face lit up. "Dankeshin! Oooo, I want you to meet my other friends, Harry, Ron and Hermione." She pointed to her Gryffindors, who seemed completely puzzled. "Vlad?" Hermione asked.   
  
Vladimir shot a disgusted glace towards the Gryffindors. He smirked a little when his eyes fell on Harry. "Harry Potter, the good little Gryffindor," he murmured, loud enough only for Harry to hear. "Goodbye for now then, enjoy your _Gryffindor_ lunch, Vrij." Vlad stalked smoothly off to the Slytherin table, where the people he sat down by were already snickering.   
  
Ron stared at Lacci. "_Vlad_??" He asked incredulously.   
  
"Didn't you see him get sorted?" Lacci asked. They all shook their heads. They had been so busy conversing Lacci that they hadn't paid attention to the rest of the first years. "Vladimir Malfoy. He's one of my new friends. Isn't he nice? He returned my drawing!"   
  
Harry raised his eyebrows. He hadn't known Malfoy had a little brother, and Lacci being friends with him wasn't something Harry had been counting on. "Very... nice, Lacci."   
  
***   
  
Harry returned to his common room later that night. Fred and George, who had been watching during lunch, popped up repeatedly by Harry to ask him questions about Baby Malfoy.   
  
"It he really friends with Lacci?"   
  
"Do you think he's as bad at Draco?"   
  
"I wonder if Lacci will grab something out of his dormitory for us?"   
  
"Hey Harry, is he _really_ Draco's brother, or do you think it's just Draco, after using Youth Elixir?"   
  
"Go away," Harry told them. Not wanting to be bothered any longer, he and Ron hurried up to their dorm.   
  
"She's friends with a Malfoy," Harry said blanky, sitting on his bed 2 minutes later.   
  
"That she is," Ron admitted. "What're you going to do about it?"   
  
"I don't know," replied Harry. "He knows me, his brother told him about me. He said to me 'Harry Potter, the good little Gryffindor.' I hope Lacci doesn't go off telling him everything about me. Do you think she knows better?"   
  
Ron shrugged. "You can hope."   
  
***   
  
Lara picked up Lacci's drawing. "What's it of?" She asked. Lacci finished pouring herself a glass of water and stepped over to Lara.   
  
It was drawn out of crayon, and was moving, just like a normal photograph. It was all in one color-- red. The type of crayons that draw moving pictures are extremely expensive and not many people could afford them. Lacci had only the one crayon-- the rest of her set was somewhere she dared not go ever again. Lacci pointed to the large dark red thing that was slinking through the garden. "That's God," she said. Then she pointed to the figure next to him, which was dancing around the flowers. "And that's me." Then she pointed to the character who was sitting under a giant mushroom. "And that's Hayee." Lacci walked back over to her bed and sat down.   
  
Lara watched the picture for a moment, as the figures moved around on it. Then she said, "Lacci? Why's Harry's head on the ground next to him? And what's with the drawing of yourself?"   
  
Lacci sidled over to Lara and looked down at the picture. There was a loud clunk and a splash as her water hit the floor.   
  
  
**Oooo, the suspense. Ok, not much suspense, but it's suspenseful in my head, nbecause there are four new chapters written down in my head. I'm been waking up with inspirations for my fic at 7 am, and hopefully my chapters will come faster. Review me.**


	18. Kiss on the Hand

It wasn't long before snow coated the ground and ice coated the windows. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Lacci often went down to visit Hagrid. Lacci had come to like Hagrid, he was nice and good-natured, the kind of person Lacci tended to like. The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was still out. A rumour had started goling around the school that Snape had poisoned the new professor and he was just waiting until they let him have the job. Lacci told no one of the picture she drew. In fact, she had hidden it under her bed. God stayed indoors more often now that there was snow, and Lacci had to borrow a winter cloak from Lara because Lara's rat (whose name turned out to be Brent) had shredded the one Mrs. Weasley had bought. Lacci had become close friends with Vladimir, Amber and Dani, and seemed to spend more time around them than around her Gryffindor friends. She tried to get closer to Ling, but finally gave up when Ling threatened to turn Lacci's whole family into snakes. Lacci had tried to protest that she had no family, but figured it was useless. Ling simply didn't like her.   
  
Lacci had experienced her first quidditch match (watching Slytherin vs Ravenclaw) a month into the first term. Slytherin had won by 10 points, a very narrow scrape. Draco had gloated about how he had just barely caught the Snitch before Cho for weeks, before Slytherin was completely flattened defeated by Gryffindor.   
  
Today was the first day of the holiday break, and almost everyone had gone away. Harry, Ron and Hermione stayed back as usual. All of Lacci's friends, with the exception of Dani, had gone home as well. Hagrid had brought in 12 christmas trees, the same for every year, and depite the lack of students the Great Hall had been decorated beautifully with holly and lights.   
  
Harry woke up and rolled over. It was barely light out. He tried to shut his eyes and go to sleep again, when something extremely cold and wet brushed past his legs. He sat straight up and pulled his legs up to his chest, wide awake. God was staring up at him expectantly from the end of the bed, snow in his fur. In fact, he took up the entire end of the bed, and was getting it wet.   
  
"_God_..." Harry moaned, and held his head. It was too early for this. God sat, still staring at Harry, as if expecting him to jump up and dance like a coconut. Instead, he swung his legs over the end of the bed and looked over at God. "Well? Come on. You aren't allowed in here. This is for Gryffindors." God, looking disappointed, hopped off the bed. Harry walked him out the door and to the portrait. "Uber Asparagus," Harry said, and the portrait opened. Harry heaved God up and set him outside the portrait hole. "Now go away, shoo." God seemed to roll his eyes, and sauntered off down the hallway. Harry shut the portrait.   
  
Now to awake to go back to bed, Harry sat down in front of the fire. The sun was beginning to come up, and the entire common room was a blue-greyish color. A tapping at the window caused Harry to look up.   
  
Hedwig was fluttering at the window, a letter tied to her leg. Harry got up and let her in, untying the letter. Hedwig made herself comfortable on he arm of Harry's armchair, shaking off some snow. Harry sat down and opened the letter. He reconized the handwriting immediately.   
  
_Dear Harry,   
  
How are you? You haven't written in a while, is everything alright? I read in the Daily Prophet about the Vrij girl, are you handling her well? Harry-- I know some things about her you might be interested in. Could I see you next week, at the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room, 1 am?   
  
Sincerely,   
  
Snuffles._   
  
Harry had forgotten about writing to Sirius. Information about Lacci? Of course! They were in Azkaban at the same time! He didn't know why he hadn't thought of it before! Harry got a quill and started to write back. He told Sirius about Lacci's arrival, her straight jacket, her cat, her language, her strange attack on during the train ride, how she had been put into slytherin, everything. Finally he ended the letter and folded it up. He stuck it in his pocket-- he'd send it later, when Hedwig was up to it.   
  
After what seemed like hours, Harry decided it must be time to eat breakfast. After a moment's thought, he decided Ron would rather sleep in, and then made his way down to the Great Hall.   
  
  
Dumbledore was already seated at a singular table. All the other tables had been set up along the walls. "There were so few people staying back," he said smiling, "that I figured only one table was needed." Harry smiled back and sat down beside him.   
  
They ate in peace for a while. Harry was thinking about the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Who was he? Why hadn't he showed up at the school? Harry decided to question Dumbledore.   
  
"Sir?"   
  
Dumbledore paused in making a volcano out of his mashed potatoes and gravy. "Yes?"   
  
"Where is our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher? It's been months."   
  
Dumbledore smiled. "Ahh, don't worry, Harry. I've got the feeling he's got it all under control. He owled me before the term and told me he had some business to take care of, so dear Ubel is filling in." His eyes twinkled.   
  
Something struck Harry. "Professor Dumbledore, sir, Professor Ubel told us someone put a curse on her when she was 17."   
  
"Yes?" Dumbledore prompted.   
  
"Well, what happened to the boy who put the curse on her? Was he expelled from Hogwarts?"   
  
Dumblesdore chuckled. "Actually, Professor Ubel didn't go to Hogwarts, she went to a school in America called Holmes. The boy would have been expelled, I hear, if she hadn't so firmly disagreed with that happening."   
  
"You mean," said Harry, peicing it together, "You mean the she and the boy were close friends?"   
  
"Well, perhaps a bit more than that." On Dumbledore's plate, Mount Potato erupted with gravy oozing down the side of it. "Now," Dumbledore said, pointing to Harry's food, "You should eat that before it gets cold."   
  
Lacci trudged into the Great Hall. For once she had overslept, and her light green hair was everywhere. God followed closely behind her, making little yowling noises.   
  
Lacci sat down opposite of Harry, God next to her.   
  
"Good morning Miss Vrij, Good morning God," Dumbledore said politely, as bacon, eggs and potatoes appeared on their plates. "Hi," said Lacci. God's head bowed slightly in recognition.   
  
Harry laughed as God tried to eat his sunny side up eggs. God glared at him. "Hey, don't get so offended." Harry put his hands in the air in surrender. He turned to Lacci.   
  
"Good morning Lacci. Looks like you slept well."   
  
Lacci nodded. "Like a coconut," she said, pouring syrup on her bacon. "You know, I had the funniest dream last night," she continued conversationally.   
  
"Oh really?" Harry asked.   
  
"Yes. I dreampt I was running naked through the snow around the Quidditch pitch, throwing a Quod into the air and hitting it with a beaterstick. Then Hedwig flew out to me and turned into a tall man with a blonde mullet and really funky eyebrows. He said his name was Jared, the Go Blinking. He was wearing all white robes and really tight tights, and he gave me a fish. So I went into the Forbidden Forest to wash my clothing, and I stuck the fish up on the clothing line. But the clothing line couldn't holding it's weight, so it fell down, and disappeared into the leaves on the forest floor. Then a centaur with giant horns sticking our of his hooves came charging at me, so I ran, but the clothing line tripped him and he was speared in the fish. Then I woke up, because my window was open."   
  
Harry laughed. "That certainly is an interesting dream."   
  
"One would wonder, however," Dumbledore said, "Why your window was open."   
  
Lacci shrugged. "Maybe the dream horse couldn't walk through the wall so it opened the window."   
  
_More like God trying to get outside_, Harry thought.   
  
"Perhaps," Dumbledore said doubtfully, but he didn't sound at all concerned about the subject. In fact, he was smiling.   
  
Lacci picked up a piece of her bacon. "Oooo! It's all sticky!" Harry and Dumbledore laughed.   
  
Dani came in a few minutes later, seating himself at the very far end of the table.   
  
"Why don't you sit over here?" Lacci called down the table. Dani shook his head. "Nah," he called back. "I'm fine right here, thanks."   
  
_ok then_, Lacci thought, mentally shrugging. She noticed that, despitre what Dani had said about lvoing the cold at the start of the year, he was wearing more clothing than everyone else and looked slightly paler than usual.   
  
About the time Harry and Lacci had finished eating, Ron and 6 other people had come down to breakfast, and Dani and Dumbledore had already left.   
  
"Thanks for waking me up," Ron said to Harry, stretching. His red hair was frizzy and there was a bit of it sticking up in the back. "Good morning Lacci."   
  
"G'morning Ronny," Lacci said, waving her fork at him. Someone put their hand on her shoulder. She looked up.   
  
Tentwol looked back down at her. "Hello again, Miss Vrij! I'm afraid I don't look my best to people staring up my nose." He stepped suavely to the right and sat down next to Lacci, putting his elbows on the table and his head sideways on his hands. He smiled at Lacci. "I wasn't aware you were staying back for the hoidays as well."   
  
Lacci grinned. "Hallo Tentwol! These are my friends, Hayee, and Ron. Hayee, Ron, this is my new friend Tentwol."   
  
Tentwol turned and smiled charmingly at Harry and Ron. "Wonderful to meet both of you." He shook their hands over the table.   
  
Harry looked at Ron and mouthed 'Is he one of her Slytherin friends?' Ron shrugged.   
  
"I'm guessing you are all in Gryffindor?" Tentwol asked. Lacci shook her head.   
  
"I'm a Slytherin," she said, a touch of pride. She had come to love Slytherin; it was literally like her home.   
  
Tentwol looked surprised. "You're in Slytherin? I wouldn't have guessed, you're very nice. I'm in Ravenclaw, 7th year."   
  
"We're 5th years," Harry said. "I think I reconize you. Are you on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team?"   
  
Tentwol nodded. "Yes, actually. I play Keeper. And you, of course, play Seeker for Gryffindor, correct?"   
  
"That's right," Harry replied.   
  
Lacci turned to God. There was another first year, nervously looking at him. God was staring glumly back. Lacci smiled. God nudged the girl in the elbow with his head.   
  
"He wants you potatoes," Lacci said happily. The girl fearfully slopped her potatoes towards God and then scooted over two chairs.   
  
"Oh," Tentwol said, noticing the cat. "Is this your cat, Vrij?"   
  
Lacci nodded. "His name is God."   
  
Tentwol raised his eyebrows. "I saw him the other day."   
  
Lacci wondered if she actually _had_ seen God. "Where?"   
  
"Oh, out and about," Tentwol said, smiling again. "Well, I'd love to stay and chit chat, but I've really got to run. Things do to, you know. Ta ta." Lacci waved goodbye to him and, to everyone but his surprise, he bent down and kissed her hand. "And a lovely day to you as well, Miss Vrij." With that, he walked out of the room.   
  
Lacci stared, awed, at her hand.   
  
"Oh Cheese, did he just do what I thought he did?" Ron asked, horrified. Harry nodded. "Unless you thought he just horribly molested the cat, crapped on the floor and sang 'I've got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts' while standing on his head, yes."   
  
"Well," Ron mused, "Not the standing on his head bit."   
  
Harry couldn't help feeling a bit jealous. He wondered why.   
  
***   
  
"Lacci," Dani said professionally, after she had told him about Tentwol. "I believe you have come across a very rare species of beast. Most of them were killed off long ago. I believe you just experienced the common farewell/greeting gesture of.... the Gentleman."   
  
Lacci, who was sitting in an armchair, giggled. Dani had found a chalkboard somewhere and was pointing at a chalk drawing in it with his wand. It was a drawing of a man, holding flowers and wearing a large slime on his face.   
  
"Now," Dani said, strutting about and pointing to the mouth. "All Gentlemen have sparkling, dazzling, charming smiles full of perfectly straight white teeth. That's why Slytherins can't be gentlemen. They are extremely polite, especially to women. You're female, which is close enough. When they are courting a woman, however, they often lavish them in gifts and flowers, and are extremely romantic. They always say the right thing. And they are always much older than the woman they are courting. I believe, if you don't take action now, you might become a victim of their snare, which is called Marriage." He drew a box with a ring in it, and pointed to it.   
  
Dani drew anyother figure. It was another man, shorter, not as perfect, slouching, with a twisted smirk in his face.   
  
"This, is the average man. They are much easier to fall in love with, and much easier to find. I, for example, and am ordinary man *coughcough*. They are often rude, tend to do disgusting things for enjoyment, pick on weaker people and lounge about. They too, have a snare. It's called Love." Dani pointed to the man's crotch. Lacci giggled again.   
  
"But Dani, I don't want to 'court' him, whatever that means. He's my friend. You're my friend."   
  
Dani shrugged. "Well, you're screwed. Speaking of, let's play chess." 


	19. Something About Lacci

Harry squeezed his way through the days, waiting to talk to Sirius again. Ron asked if he could come along; Harry didn't see any harm in it.   
  
At 1 AM, Harry and Ron sat patiently by the fireplace. After a while, a familiar head popped out of the fire. "Hello Harry, Hello Ron. It's good to see you two again."   
  
"Hello Snuffles," Ron said, waving.   
  
"Hello Snuffles. What is it you want to tell me about Lacci? Is she dangerous still?"   
  
Sirius shrugged. "I haven't seen her in person in about 3 years. In Azkaban, she was in the cell across from me. She was alot like the other prisoners-- greasy, sleep deprived, hopelessly depressed and muttering to herself. She sometimes jumped up and started screaming in foreign languages, banging her head against the bars of her cell and often ended up bleeding through her eyes or cracks in her head."   
  
Ron and Harry exchanged glances. "Snuffles-- that's pretty much what she did on the train, only she tried to kill me."   
  
"I know," Sirius replied, shaking his head sadly. "That's why I'm telling you. She was like that since she first came to Azkaban, when she was six. Just a little teeny child, with light green hair and a doll. The doll was made out of jean fabric, and was stained a dark brown color, like dried blood. She ripped it to pieces on her first 'tantrum' in the prison. She was given that straight jacket you mentioned, its not a normal muggle one. This one is charmed to not let the person out. She was given that to protect herself. A dead human is no use to the dementors. You say she got out of it once, so the charm may have worn down alot."   
  
Ron's eyes widened. "Six years old? What on earth did she do??"   
  
"I never found out, but it couldn't have been pleasant for them to have sent a child to Azkaban for it. Harry, Ron, please be careful. When her sentence ended, they took her away from Azkaban and she cried. She clung to her cell. She _didn't want to leave Azkaban_. Most people would cry for joy on being released, and she didn't want to go. It had become like her home. When she was finally out in the world, the Ministry of Magic had planned to send her to a foster home, but not many people wanted to house her, you can imagine. She ran away, no one knows where to, for two weeks. Then she appeared on the Dursleys' doorstep. The Ministry was a mess, and she refused to come back. She likes to cling to places, and now she has a new home."   
  
Harry nodded slowly. "So what you're saying is, she's made the Dursleys' house her new home?"   
  
"No, Harry. I'm saying she's made _you_ her new home. She's clinging to you now, she sees something in you. She admires you. And that makes her all the more dangerous. She'll love you, then try to hurt you, then beg for forgiveness and do it again. Something about Azkaban did it to her, it isn't her fault. I've seen it happen to other prisoners. It split her into two parts, and I think the one she's been trying to suppress is slowly making it's way out again. I want you to be very careful Harry. But there is another thing..." Sirius stopped.   
  
"What is it?" Harry asked. "What's the other thing?"   
  
"Harry, remember, she's basically split up into good and evil. And while you must be cautious around her, remember this: She's scared. She's still just a child, and Azkaban didn't let her grow up. She wont be able to stand having you shun her when she's trying her hardest. Everything you do, everything you say means something to her. Alright?"   
  
Harry nodded, not knowing what else to do.   
  
"Ok then, Harry, I've got to go, before they see me. Take care Ron, Happy Christmas to both of you."   
  
"Happy Christmas Snuffles," Harry and Ron chorused. Sirius's head disappeared into the flames.   
  
Ron turned to Harry. "Well.... now what?"   
  
"Now," Harry said, sounding more disturbed than he meant, "We go up to the dormitory, lie down, and pray to whatever gods will listen for Lacci's health, safety and sanity."   
  
***   
  
And so the holidays went. Lacci spent most of her time with Harry and Ron. Tentwol would show up unexpectedly and Lacci would end up hanging out with him for hours.   
  
Harry watched over Lacci, and was pleased to see she didn't attack anyone. In fact, she had been extra happy since she had made friends at Hogwarts. Unfortunately, she came down with a very bad case of the flu two days before Christmas, and had been spending her time lying down in the Hospital Wing. Harry and Ron had taken to visiting her for as long as Madam Pomfrey would allow, and tried to be there when Lacci's Slytherin friend, Dani, wasn't hanging around.   
  
"Woot!" Ron jumped around the dorm room, throwing pillows. Tomorrow was Christmas. Harry was hit in the head by a flying pillow. He picked it up and chucked it back at Ron.   
  
"It's amazing how time flies when you're having fun," Harry said, grinning from ear to ear. Two years in a row and he had lived a fairly normal life. It was almost suspicious.   
  
Ron looked at his watch. "Man, don't I know it. It's already 6 pm, do you think it's too late to go check on Lacci?"   
  
"Only if Dani is there."   
  
"Let's go check then."   
  
"Ok." There was a slight pause. "Ron?"   
  
"What?"   
  
"Leave the pillows here."   
  
***   
  
Lacci looked around the Hospital Wing. It was white and boring, and hadn't changed over the past few days. She had taken out her crayon and doodled a kitten on her sheets, which had started running around and playing across her sheet. At the moment it was asleep between her feet.   
  
Lacci slowly pulled her feet over the side of the bed and stood up. Her head was pounding and her legs didn't want to hold her, but she was determined to get out of this room. Slowly, she stumbled across the room and opened the door, flinging herself into the hallway.   
  
She tried groggily to remember which way the dungeons were. "Down," she said out loud.   
  
Soon Lacci came to the portrait to the Slytherin common room. She had woken up a bit from the cold floors against her bare feet.   
  
"Ummm... sepski nami." The portrait opened and Lacci pulled herself through the hole and then shut the picture behind her.   
  
Dani looked up, surprised. "What do you think you're doing back here? You're sick. Go back to the Hospital wing."   
  
Lacci shook her head slightly. "No. It's boring. I'm going up to my dorm." And then she collapsed.   
  
***   
  
Harry opened the door to the hospital wing and stepped in, shortly followed by Ron. "Does her bed look a little empty to you?" Ron asked, lifting up the sheet. The crayon kitten rolled down and nearly fell off the bed, except it was attached to the sheets.   
  
"Yes," Harry croaked worriedly, "It does."   
  
***   
  
Lacci opened her eyes a crack to find herself facing unfamiliar territory. She groaned.   
  
The bed bounced a little as someone behind her was startled.   
  
"Oh," Dani said, scooting away from her five inches. "You know, you fainted down in the common room. I couldn't get into your dorm, so I brought you in here. You really shouldn't have left the hospital wing. Now go back to sleep, it's 3 am."   
  
Lacci turned around. As she had thought, Dani was on the other side of the bed she was lying in. "Why didn't you just put me on one of the other beds?" She asked curiously.   
  
"It's not sanitary," Dani said hollowly.   
  
"Neither is sharing a bed with a very sick person," Lacci pointed out. She didn't want to get her friend sick. Not on Christmas.   
  
"Look," Dani said sternly, sounding extremely irritated, "Face the other way so you don't cough on me. This is my bed, and I'm not leaving. I'm too tired to get up and put you on another bed. You're just going to have to deal with it. Now _go to sleep_."   
  
Lacci scowled, offended, and turned over. "Happy Christmas, Dani," she said softly. Then she went to sleep.   
  
Dani sighed exasperatively and scooted closer to the opposite side of the bed. He shut his eyes and went to sleep, making sure there was plenty of blanket between him and Lacci.   
  
***   
  
"Maybe she's gotten better," Ron said, after looking around the hospital wing once more.   
  
"Yeah," said Harry, slumping against the wall. "Really quickly. Errgg. We've been here too long, what time is it?"   
  
Ron looked at the clock on the wall. "3 am. Lets go back to bed, we'll probably see Lacci in the morning."   
  
Harry didn't want to lose Lacci, but he had to agree. It was extremely late, and he couldn't help feeling that he'd know if Lacci was in or causing any trouble. "Alright, lets go."   
  
***   
  
Lacci's eyes opened. She tended to turn alot in her sleep, and was now facing Dani, who was curled up right next to her, fast alseep. She smiled. Then she noticed what little pain she was in. The antidote Pomfrey had given her had obviously worked! Very slowly, she willed herself to be rid of the blankets and she stood up. Today was Christmas. Lacci had never before celebrated a Christmas, but Harry and Ron had told her it was a day when you got lots of presents from your family and friends and you had a big dinner, which sounded just fine to her. She made her way back to her dorm and got dressed into more casual clothes, not wanting to wear school robes for a special day like this.   
  
There was the sound of claws clicking on stone, and then something brushed past Lacci. Without looking up, she said, "Happy Christmas, God." God snorted and jumped onto her bed.   
  
"I'm going to go open my presents now. Maybe you'll have some too, I'll bring them back to you."   
  
Lacci bounded down the steps into the common room, which, despite being below the castle, managed to have light pouring in through the windows. Lacci assumed it was some sort of magic.   
  
On the table farthest from the door was a pile of presents, wrapped in paper. Lacci sqealed and bounced over to them. Most of them were for Dani, she'd expected that. Lacci was happy with her small few, which she took over to a sofa and sat down with.   
  
Dani came tromping noisely down the stairs. "G'morning, Happy Christmas, other stuff," he said lazily, And walked over to his presents.   
  
Lacci was pleased to discover a basket of chocolate biscuits from Hagrid, a green sweater from Mrs. Weasley, and invisible ink pen from George and an egyptian toilet seat from Fred, a book on anceint egyptian wizards from Percy, and a leather bracelet from someone annonymous.   
  
"Hey hey," Dani said, sounding almost cheerful. "The new boots I've been waiting for!"   
  
Lacci smiled. "Boots? What do they do?"   
  
Dani smirked. "These have powers far too great for you to understand."   
  
"You know," Lacci said, sounding offhand, "You'd be surprised how often I get that." Lacci pulled the bracelet onto her left wrist and took a bite out of one of the biscuits, with some difficulty. "I'm off to breakfast."   
  
"See you then," Dani said, not really paying attention to her as he unwrapped a brand new game of Diamond Orb.   
  
***   
  
Harry and Ron were already awake, and sorting through their presents. "What color?" Harry asked, not even bother to look up as Ron moaned loudly.   
  
"Maroon," Ron said mournfully.   
  
"Hey," Harry said, pulling his dark yellow sweater over his head. "Why dont we take these downstairs? I'm starving. Plus, we've got to see if Lacci's about."   
  
Ron nodded and picked all of his things up. "Let's go then." He walked to the portrait. "Er, Harry, could you open the door? My hands are full."   
  
Harry laughed. "Coming, Ron."   
  
Harry and Ron found their way to the Great Hall in high spirits. They met Hagrid in the hallway.   
  
"Happy Christmas ter the both of ya!" Hagrid boomed, clapping them both on the back. "I jus' saw yer little friend Harry, she's a sweet one. She likes me biscuits I made 'er!" Hagrid grinned cheerily. Aparently Lacci was perfectly fine, and well enough to go about giving good cheer. Harry smiled. "That's wonderful Hagrid."   
  
The Great Hall was a magnificent sight, with the twelve trees Hagrid had brought in glittering and glowing. Harry and Ron set all their things on a table, two of which were out. Harry was pleased to find Lacci was already there.   
  
"Haio Hayee, Happy Christmas!!" Lacci was wearing her Weasley sweater, which was lime green with a fuschia "L" on the front.   
  
"Happy Christmas Lacci," Harry said warmly. Just then, a familiar hawk flew in through the window. It was the Malfoy's hawk.   
  
The bird landed on the table Lacci had been sitting on. It ruffled its wings importantly.   
  
"What a pretty bird!" Lacci exclaimed, untying a package from the bird's leg. "Danke, you are a very nice bird. Have some of my breakfast," Lacci said, gesturing towards her hot beef sandwich, among other things. The bird helped itself to the sandwich.   
  
Lacci unwrapped the package, which was fairly small. Something small and round fell out of it, and Lacci grabbed it. She stuffed it in her pocket and read the note that had come with it.   
  
_Lacci-   
  
It's Vladimir Malfoy. I remembered you don't have any friends who can give you a worthwhile present, so I sent you this. I'm sure you know what it is. Happy Christmas.   
  
- Vladimir Malfoy, Esq. Ps: Draco told me to add that he's gotten the new Windbreaker 420 (picture included), and that he thinks Potter should know that._   
  
A picture cut out from the Daily Prophet fell from the folded note, and Lacci snatching it out f the air. It showed a brand new broomstick, which indeed looked newer and more powerful than the Firebolt Harry owned. The most interesting thing was that the wood was black, as were the twigs for the tail. It made it look extremely snazzy.   
  
"Hayee," Lacci said, smiling, "Guess what? Draco got a Windbreaker 420 and they are really pretty. See?" She held out the picture, and Harry grabbed it. Ron rushed over. "Draco got a new broom?" He cried. "And it's called a _Windbreaker_??" The name was rather amusing, when one thought about it. "Harry, quick, go see if you have any broom-shaped packages!"   
  
Harry would have laughed at Ron's behavior, if Draco getting a new broom hadn't actually been such a serious thing. Not only would he gloat, but Harry had no doubt the broom would be better than his Firebolt. After all, new brooms are _supposed_ to be the improved versions of old ones.   
  
"Relax, Ron," Harry said calmly, handing the picture back to Lacci, "Just because his broom is one grade higher than mine doesn't mean he'll be better than me. Quidditch takes skill as well as brooms."   
  
The sound of confidence in Harry's voice made Ron smile. "Yeah, you're right. You're twice as good as Malfoy. What am I worrying about? Let's eat."   
  
Lacci pulled a bag of somethings out of her pockets. "They've got these lying all around.. do either of you want a Chocolate Kiss?" She held out the bag. Inside were little chocolate pyramids wrapped in foil. Harry took one and started sucking on it.   
  
He had the suddenly sensation of being kissed full on the mouth. He spit the Kiss back out in surprise. "It kissed me!" He cried, sounding rather foolish.   
  
Ron laughed. "Of course it did, that's what Chocolate Kisses do. Fred loves them, probably because he wants to practice on chocolate before he actually kisses a girl."   
  
Lacci cocked her head to the side. "Fred's never kissed a girl? He told me he has."   
  
"Bah," said Ron, smiling, "he's just covering up the embarrassing fact."   
  
"Hey Lacci..." Harry said, noticing for the first time her new bracelet. "Who sent you that?"   
  
Lacci looked down and grinned. "I don't know. Some bloke. But it's neat, isn't it?"   
  
Harry wondered if it was possibly from some friend she had who couldn't let themself be known. He shrugged it off. "It's very nice Lacci, I like it."   
  
Soon the teachers were coming down, opening their own presents. Soon Flitwick had some sort of Unicorn Hair charm, Ubel was dancing around hugging studetns and teacher and wearing a very form fitting black leather suit (it magically makes the person extremely well formed and prepared for action, for those of you who haven't seen The Matrix or Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back), Hagrid was holding a bunch of giant flowers, Harry was guessing they were sent by Madam Maxime, and the other assorted teachers were still unwrapping things. Harry laughed out loud when Dumbledore unwrapped a present and held up his brand new pair of woolen socks.   
  
"Hey," Ron said, after a moment's looking around, "Where's Snape?"   
  
"Probably doesn't celebrate Christmas," Harry said, not really caring whether Snape was there or not.   
  
"Poor guy," Ron said unsympathetically. "He never gets any presents, I bet. Probably cant stand all the merriment."   
  
Harry suddenly had a mental image of Snape standing on a cliff above Hogwarts and muttering about the Hoos down in Hooville.   
  
"We should give him a present," Lacci suggested. Harry and Ron both laughed. "Give _Snape_ a _Christmas present_?" They both asked. "He'd probably think we were sucking up to him and take points away from Gryffindor for Attempt to Bribe a Teacher."   
  
Lacci shrugged. "He wouldn't take points away from me." Lacci was still afraid of Snape, he had gotten rather harsh on her recently. But still, it hurt to look at him. It wasn't even that Snape _looked_ like him, there's was just something that the two had in common, something Lacci couldn't remember...   
  
Ubel hugged Lacci from behind. "Happy Hannukah!" She cried joyfully. "Hannukah?" Lacci asked, bewildered. "Yes," Ubel said, not disappointed by Lacci's confusion. "Hannukah. It's a jewish holiday. In celebration for the Macabees reclaiming the temple, and the lamp that burned for eight days when there was only enough oil for one."   
  
"You're Jewish?" Harry asked. He wouldn't have guessed.   
  
"What's Jewish?" Lacci asked, still confused. Ubel went into explanations about different religions and beliefs and Gods.   
  
"Oh," Lacci said, grinning, "I have God. He's up in my room."   
  
Ubel nodded. "God is everywhere."   
  
_You got that right,_ Harry thought to himself. Indeed, God had slunk into the Great Hall and was sitting under one of the 12 trees, looking at a ball on the tree. It was a mirror bubble, a charm Harry had mastered only last year. They were light as normal bubbles, shiny as mirrors, and hard as glass. When you popped them, they shattered into thousands of teeny bits of glass bubble. There had been quite a few injuries during that lesson, he recalled. He hope God broke it open on himself.   
  
Harry looked over and found that Lacci had gone off to somewhere, God was looking down at Flitwick (he was 2 inches taller), and Ron was talking to Ubel, and looking somewhat red in the cheeks. Harry smiled.   
  
***   
  
_Well,_ Lacci thought determinedly, I_ think he should get a present. Nobody should go without one on Christmas, Harry told me so himself._   
  
Lacci was back in her common room, looking around for something to give Snape. As Lacci didn't really own anything, she looked through Lara's stuff. There was nothing that would suit Snape. Wait... She didn't own anything except...   
  
"God?" Lacci asked hopefully. He poked his head out from under her bed. "God, I want to give Professor Snape a Christmas present. Can you think of something?" God cocked his head to the side. An idea came to Lacci. "God... God, do you like Snape?"   
  
God looked offended. Give _him_ to _Snape_?   
  
Lacci looked pleadingly at him. "Oh come on God... you never do anything around me, and Snape is probably very nice, and please? You'll still see me, it isn't like you don't go where you please."   
  
God thought about it. He knew it wasn't good to disappoint or upset Lacci in any way. It was probasbly best, as long as he could still watch her, check her progress....   
  
God nuzzled Lacci's shoulder. _If that's what you really want,_ he thought. Lacci scratched behind his ear and smiled. She couldn't read his thoughts, but she could read his actions. "Thanks, God. Snape will love you."   
  
Five minutes later, Lacci was wandering around the dungeon, looking for Snape's quarters. She didn't know where they were, but she guessed where to look. After what seemed like hours but was actually only 30 minutes, Lacci found a door saying "Professor Snape: Potions Master". Chances were, this was where Snape lived.   
  
Lacci reached out to knock on the door. She hesitated. Was it really worth it? She didn't want to have to face Snape when she didn't need to, and God was perfectly fine staying with Lacci. It wasn't as though she _needed_ to get rid of God, in fact, she didn't want to...   
  
But she knew she should. Lacci believed highly in her morals. Gathering up her courage, she reached out again, and once again stopped. "Hey, God, you don't need me around while he takes you in, right?"   
  
God looked up at her sarcastically. _No, not in the least. Just leave me here, outside the door._   
  
"Here," Lacci said, pulling out some parchment. "I'll write him a note."   
  
_To Snape:   
  
Happy Christmas!! I hope you like him._   
  
She though for a moment about leaving a signature. But what if Snape got mad at her? Lacci decided it was probably best to leave it the way it was, she didn't think she could live down Snape asking her why. She handed the note to God. "Here, you just hold that out to him, and he'll read it, and all will be good. Bi Bi God, I'll see you later." Lacci bent down and hugged God tightly. She Grinned at him. "You'll still visit me, right?"   
  
God nodded. _Oh yes, all the time._   
  
Lacci rubbed God's head, stoood up, knocked on Snape's door, and then sprinted down the hall and hid in a doorway.   
  
Snape opened the door with a sour look on his face. He had been grading papers and writing back to the Ministry of Magic, who were being real prats as the moment.   
  
God looked up at Snape with a catlike expression on his face, one of boredom. _So.... hello then._   
  
Snape stared at God. God stared at Snape. Snape took the note from God's mouth and read it. "Bloody hell," he murmured. Snape looked at God again. God looked expectantly up at him. They stood there for a moment. Then...   
  
"Ok. Come in." _Thought you'd never ask,_ God thought dully, and slipped in past Snape's leg. 


	20. Death Magick For Adepts

"What are you doing?" Lacci asked, staring at the potions, the cauldron, the open book, and Lara's dead rat.   
  
Dani looked frightened, surprised, worried and furious at the same time. "Lacci," he hissed, his eyes wide open and his mouth curled into a snarl, "What are _you_ doing back so soon? Go away!"   
  
But Lacci didn't go away. She walked sideways, inching to see behind Dani. "Dani-- you aren't doing what I think you are?"   
  
Dani didn't need to ask what she thought he was doing. "No. No, of course not. You nkow I'm taking advanced Potions-- well, this is advanced."   
  
Lacci folded her arms. "Nothing in our Potions class involves killing other people's rats, and I know it has nothing to do with tomes like that. Those are the kind you find in the Restricted Section. Not even Snape would give you permission to go back there."   
  
Dani looked like a cornered snake. "Look, this is mine, it was passed down from my father, alright? I told Snape about it and he told me I could do this for extra homework. As for the rat-- there weren't any others I could find and Brunner doesn't like him much anyway."   
  
Dani hated homework, Lacci knew this. And Lara loved her rat, it was one of the few things she held on to. "Dani, I don't like this. Tell me what you're doing. Let me see that book."   
  
"No! Lacci, this is none of your business! Go _away_!" Dani quickly shut the book behind him.   
  
Lacci pulled out her wand. She had learned to start carrying it, it could be useful at times. She twitched her left ear, her sullen face staring directly into Dani. "Dani. Give me the book. Now." When Dani refused, she lunged at him. He moved swiftly out of the way, but the table didn't. She knocked over a dark red potion, which hit her hand. The skin it touched turned red, and it spread up her arm. She stared in horror, and Dani hid his face in his hands. As all of her skin became red, down to the fingertips of her opposite hand, she turned to stare at Dani. Then she burst into flame.   
  
Lacci screamed, but found it didn't hurt. Her skin wasn't burning-- she had become fire. Dani grabbed Lacci's wand, which had fallen to the floor, and backed away. "Stay back, demon," he snarled, holding the wand in a striking position.   
  
Lacci looked at him hopelessly. Demon? That book! She looked back at it, and found that her head could turn all the way around without her moving her body. _'The Banishing and Summoning of the 6 Earthly Demons'_. It seemed Dani had been preparing to summon a fire demon, and by the looks of it, he hadn't gotten farther than the starting potion. Lacci had seen it done before, she couldn't remember from where. Shouldn't she be dead?   
  
"Avada Kedarva!" Dani yelled, still pointing Lacci's wand at her. Lacci knew that the Killing Curse took lots of practice and skill. She didn't have time to think about this, because she fell to the floor and blacked out, the carpet around her beginning to burn.   
  
***   
  
Lacci screamed and sat up. She looked at her hands. They were flesh. It was hard to see in the darkness of the room, but they weren't glowing flame. She was back in the Hospital Wing. Had she been dreaming the whole thing? Had Christmas even come yet?   
  
All these questions were answered in the clapping of a pair of human hands. The room lit up. Standing a few feet away was Professor Severus Snape. Dani was beside him, looking very smug. He smiled at Lacci. Lacci didn't smile back, but looked around to room for Harry. He wasn't there.   
  
"Miss Vrij," Snape said coldly, stepping forward.   
  
Lacci looked up at him gratefully, not quite meeting his gaze. "Oh, Professor Snape! Dani's trying to summon a fire demon, I saw him when I went up to the common room-- he killed Lara's rat and everything-- he told me you said--"   
  
Snape silenced her. "Mr. Dellin has already given me the details. Don't lie to me. You have been trying to summon demons for a while now, haven't you? Did you know that is _illegal_, Miss Vrij? It's certainly more advanced magic than you know. Do you have any idea what would have happened, if Mr. Dellin hadn't come downstairs and prevented you? Hmm?" He looked at her with a disliking glint in his eye. Lacci took a moment to let this all sink in.   
  
"Wait! No! I'm not trying to summon demons, I don't like demons! Dani-- I came down to the common room-- he was reading from that book-- told me to go away--"   
  
"Enough!" Snape shouted. "Are you or are you not willing to tell me the truth? If not, I shall have to inform Professor Dumbledore, perhaps he will get some straight answers out of you."   
  
Lacci gaped. She turned to Dani. "Dani, you know what happened. Tell him the truth. Tell him what you told me. It's your book, it's been passed down by your father--"   
  
Dani just smirked. "Tell him what truth? I've already told him everything I know. I was in my dorm, trying to sleep, when I heard you chanting in the common room. I came down there and saw you with all of these bottles, and a dead animal. I should have seen it coming, you've been acting weirdly for weeks. Probably getting the potions ready, huh? Getting ready to set a demon loose on us all."   
  
Lacci didn't know what to do. She had turned three shades paler and looked as though the world was coming to an end and everyone was blaming her for it. "I didn't do it!" she cried. "I didn't!!"   
  
Snape sighed. "Very well then. Come, Dellin. You will return to your dorm; I must inform the headmaster of our little demon-worshipper." Snape stalked out of the room, Dani close behind. He stopped for a moment to peek back in.   
  
"Hey Lacci--" Dani whispered, so Madam Pomfrey couldn't hear, "too bad you didn't manage to bring up a demon, hey?" Lacci snarled and Dani ducked out of the room. Frightened and confused, Lacci pulled her covers over her head and started crying.   
  
Lacci waited for another hour for Dumbldedore to appear, scolding her and suspending her. From what she had heard from Harry though, she should be allowed to give him her side of the story, unlike Snape. But Dumbledore didn't come. Eventually she fell asleep out of the simple weariness the day had brought.   
  
***   
  
The next morning, at about 10, Lacci was called to Dumbledore's office. "Come on, up with you," Madam Pomfrey said, helping Lacci out of bed. For the first time, Lacci looked at herself. She had a giant ugly scab on her wrist where the potion had landed. Lacci started talking while Madam Pomfrey dressed her.   
  
"Why am I in so much trouble? I didn't do anything? Why aren't I dead? _Am_ I dead??"   
  
"No, no you aren't," Madam Pomfrey said, struggling to pull Lacci's shirt on while she wiggled around. "I don't know why you aren't dead, but be happy you aren't." When Madam Pomfrey had finished getting Lacci dressed, she told her she'd be walking Lacci to Dumbledore's office. Lacci nodded; there wasn't much else to do.   
  
As Lacci was walked through the hallways (which seemed bigger than ever before), her throat seemed to tighten up and her stomach was rolling around in circles. She felt shameful to even look up, but did so when she was brought past a statue and up a huge staircase.   
  
The door at the top of the stairs was opened, and Lacci was ushered into Dumbledore's office. Dani was sitting in a chair by Dumbledore's desk. Dumbledore thanked Madam Pomfrey, and she left the room.   
  
"Miss Vrij, would you please have a seat?"   
  
Lacci walked over, still slightly baffled at this sudden turn of events, and sat across from Dani. "Professor Snape and Mr. Dellin her have just been to me with an interesting story, Miss Vrij," Dumbledore said patiently.   
  
Lacci looked pleadingly at him. "I didn't do it, Dani did it, you can't believe him, he's lying--"   
  
Dumbledore hushed her. "I have heard his side of the story, and now I'd like to hear your side. Slower, please."   
  
Lacci realised Dumbledore wasn't going to give her an unfair trial. She cleared her throat.   
  
"Well sir, you saw me down at the feast. I was there the entire time. Dani wasn't, and I was worried about him. I thought I had given him a flu. So when the feast was over I went down to the commons to look for him. He was standing in front of a table covered in potions and Trent was lying in a dish, covered in blood. And a book was lying open. Dani didn't want me to see it, he told me to go upstairs. I recognized what he was doing-- summoning a fire demon-- and tried to stop him. I knocked a red potion onto my hand and I became made of fire or something. Then I tried to turn around and Dani used a killing curse on me. Then I woke up in the hospital."   
  
Lacci bit her lip hopefully. She knew it would be suspicious if she knew too much about what Dani was doing.   
  
Dumbledore took this into consideration. "Tell me, how did you recognized what he was trying to do? That's extremely advanced magic, and not many first years would recognize it."   
  
"Well," Lacci said, glad he had asked something she could answer, "I saw that book--" Lacci didn't want to get Lara in trouble, "somewhere, and I read the title when I found Dani in the commons. It's called 'The Summoning and Banishing of the 6 Earthly Demons'."   
  
"Ah," Dumbledore said, and a smile twitched in the side of Dani's mouth. "You are, of course, aware that the words on the spine of that book are written in anceint greek? Even if you had read it, how did you know it was a fire demon he was summoning?"   
  
Lacci nodded slowly. This was the question she didn't want to answer. "I know. I know... lots of languages... and I saw what page he was on when I became fire... page 251, which is all about fire demons, and their properties..."   
  
Dumbledore nodded, and Lacci immediately knew she had let out too much. "Tell me Lacci, how do you know so much about this book? I was under the notion you've been elsewhere since you were six."   
  
Lacci looked over at Dani, who, surprisingly, was now full of interest. "My father," she said quietly. "He was a Death Eater. Owned that book. Was a bad man. He's dead."   
  
Dumbledore smiled. Lacci didn't know what she had expected him to do, possibly jump up and start screaming at her, but this was definitely not it. He looked over at Dani. "Mr. Dellin? Would you please remove yourself from the room for a moment? i would like to speak to Miss Vrij alone." Disappointed, Dani nodded and left the room. Dumbledore turned back to Lacci.   
  
"Lacci, I know who your father was. I know he's dead. I know he owned this book. In fact, I probably know a few things about him that you don't know, and you'd be best off not knowing." There was a hint of apology in his voice. Lacci shook it off.   
  
"I don't care about him. If you know so much about him, you know he killed my mam. Sir, you do believe me, don't you? Dani was trying to do something awful, I don't know what it was--"   
  
Dumbledore raised his hand and she shushed. "Yes, I believe you. Even with your background, there was no way you could have concocted something so advanced. Daniel, on the other hand, is an extremely good wizard, probably best I've seen at his age, and he's been under influences. But there is something that concerns me more than his project."   
  
Lacci looked at Dumbledore, confused. "But... but... he could have done something awful! Think of what could have happened!"   
  
"Ah," Dumbledore said calmly, "But he failed. So none of that has happened. What interests me is you, Lacci. Twice last night you should have died. You know the potion you knocked over should have burned you alive. And Dani has had practice with the three Unforgivable Curses. He should have killed you. I imagine the potions cancelled out the curse, but what cancelled out the potion?"   
  
Lacci didn't know. "I don't know."   
  
"Lacci," Dumbledore asked seriously, "If you have any problems, if anything funny happens, please tell me. I will be alerting your friends as well. This is for your safety as well as everyone else's safety."   
  
Lacci nodded carefully. "But... what about Dani? What will happen to him?"   
  
Dumbledore sighed sadly. "I'm afraid he will be sent to Azkaban. His family has been undergoing some rather unacceptable activity." Noting Lacci's look, he added, "No, it has nothing to do with Voldemort or his followers. The Dellins aren't Death Eaters. In fact, I believe they are enemies."   
  
Lacci flinched and looked down at the name of her father's master and the mention of her old home. "But-- sir-- please don't send him there-- he's not that bad-- cant you just send him to a detention of some sort?" Dani had been one of her best friends. She didn't care if he tried to kill people, or if he tried to kill her, she didn't like losing her friends, especially not to a place like Azkaban.   
  
"I'm sorry, Miss Vrij, there in nothing else we can do." Dumbledore sat for a moment longer, and then stood up. "Come back in please, Mr. Dellin," He called to the person in the hall. "Miss Vrij, I suggest you go to the music room-- I have informed your friends to wait for you there." Lacci's face lit up. Harry and Ron? She smiled, thanked Dumbledore, and left the room, nearly bumping into Dani as she did so. Dani gave her an almost sorry glance, and Lacci felt a tear start to burn in the back of her eye. She didn't want Dani to go to Azkaban...   
  
Down the steps, past the statue, through the corridors, down the steps, it seemed to take hardly more than two minutes to reach the music room. Lacci burst in and looked around for Harry and Ron.   
  
***   
  
Harry was sitting on the band stands, Ron lying down behind him. At the sight of Lacci, they both rushed up. Lacci hugged Harry hard.   
  
"What happened?"   
  
"Dumbledore told us what happened."   
  
"Are you alright?"   
  
"How is your hand?"   
  
"What's going to happen to Dani?"   
  
Lacci looked back and forth between Harry and Ron, and then walked past them and sat down. "I'm fine, I think. I can't really feel my hand. And Dani-- Dani's going to Az-- Azkaban--"   
  
Harry sat down on Lacci's right, Ron on her left. Harry patted Lacci comfortingly on the shoulder. "But that's good news, isn't it?"   
  
Lacci looked up at Harry, a look of utmost sadness on her face. Harry nodded.   
  
"Ah. You don't want him to go. I understand." Harry didn't really understand; in fact, he didn't really care about much of the details. As long as Lacci was alive and breathing and safe, he didn't care. He had been so worried when Dumbledore had told them Lacci had come across Dani in mid-summoning. Harry was immensely curious as to why Lacci hadn't died, but he knew better than to ask her right now. He had been through near-death experiences before, and knew how to deal with them.   
  
Ron reached into his pocket and pulled out a Chocolate Frog, which he handed to Lacci. "Here," he said softly, "You must be starving."   
  
Lacci took it gratefully and pulled one of the back legs off so it couldn't hop away.   
  
She leaned over on Harry's shoulder. Harry looked down at her, partly in sympathy, partly in fear, and partly in fascination. A few hours ago, she should have been killed by her trusted friend, but wasn't. A few weeks ago she had been hanging around all of her quickly made Slytherin friends, and Harry had felt almost jealous. A few months ago, she had been a complete maniac, and she didn't even speak Harry's language. A month before that she had been sitting in Azkaban, probably hitting her head in the wall and trying to break free of her straight jacket. About seven years ago she had done something so horrible that she had been sent to a heavily guarded wizard prison. Harry had had a rougher life than her, but couldn't help but feel sorry she had to live through all that. 


End file.
